15 Hours
by tamaracjohnson
Summary: When Harry Potter goes missing during an outing to the wizard village of Hogsmeade, Professor Severus Snape come to his rescue. Snape does save Harry, only to find himself captured, and his very thoughts drained and exposed to the evil Lord Voldemort.
1. Chapter 1

**Harry Potter: 15 Hours**

By Tamara Johnson, 2005/2009

**Rating:**

PG-13 for torture, dark themes, character death

COMPLETE. Novel length.

**Acknowledgements:**

"15 Hours" is inspired by the USA Scholastic editions of the Harry Potter series, copyrighted by JK Rowlings.

**Synopsis:**

When Harry Potter goes missing during an outing to the wizard village of Hogsmeade, Professor Severus Snape come to his rescue. Snape does save Harry, only to find himself captured, and his very thoughts drained and exposed to the evil Lord Voldemort.

Harry comes to believe that Snape really does want him dead--while Voldemort learns that Snape is holding the key that could show Lord Voldemort how to regain the powers he inadvertently transferred to Harry that fateful day his curse failed!

**Canon:**

The events of "15 Hours" are my personal sequel "Order of the Phoenix" and are Alternate Universe to anything after "Order of the Phoenix." Please note that "15 Hours" rests on the assumption that Voldemort knows Snape has joined Dumbledore and is looking for revenge. Therefore, Snape was not going to rejoin Voldemort after Albus asked him to do [what he must ask Snape to do] at the end of "Goblet of Fire."

**Chapter 1: Saturday at Honeydukes**

Professor Snape stared with parted lips at the prophesy orb resting on his finger tips. Inside, a woman's face faded into smoke.

"Hmm," Dumbledore said. "Firenze is going to be jealous. Though personally, I enjoy Trelawney's fake prophesies so much more. They're easier to ignore."

Snape looked up sharply. "Don't joke, Headmaster."

"No," Dumbledore agreed seriously. "I'm certain this is quite harrowing for you. But I can't tell you what it means."

Dumbledore stood to leave.

"You don't think the conclusions are obvious?" Snape asked quietly.

"No." Dumbledore put his hand on Snape's shoulder as he passed. "I still trust you, Severus," Dumbledore said. He left the room.

-------------

Harry sighed. For once he felt almost content.

No Dursleys. No dementors. Just a day spent with Ron and Hermione, in the highly unusual wizarding village of Hogsmeade.

As evening fell, the three friends passed Honeydukes tavern. Ron dragged them all to a halt. "Hey, we've been walking all day. Could do with a butterbeer." Ron veered toward the tavern door without waiting for an answer.

Next to Harry, Hermione hurmphed. "As if _that's_ all he wants."

Ron swung around. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean." Hermione glared pointedly into the brightly lit window. Inside a buxom barmaid leaned over a table and flirted with a patron.

"Oh. Sure." Ron wolfishly at Hermione, and turned to Harry. "I'm hungry, too. Let's stay for supper."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Really, Ron! Just because..."

Ron cut in, "Come off it, Hermione! You don't have to be jealous!"

She stomped her foot indignantly. "Jealous?" she scolded, but Ron cut in, "I was just thinking, you know you don't want the Hogwarts' house-elves to have to cook supper for us. Do you? After all, they made breakfast for us like ten or twelve hours ago!"

Harry snorted.

Hermione glared. "Fine, Ronald." She shook her bushy hair. "But you shouldn't make fun. If you cared about the house-elves at all, you'd see all the hard work they have to do! Coming, Harry?" She flounced right past Ron and into Honeydukes. The door slammed after her.

Ron rolled his eyes at Harry. "She's nuts," he mouthed, as he shoved the door open.

Harry laughed and followed Ron into the brightly lit tavern. Honeydukes was teaming with students. From the far end of the bar Professors McGonagall and Flitwick gave the boys a friendly wave.

They waved back and searched around. Hermione had managed to squeeze herself through the crowd and gotten a table near the frosty window. As the boys sat with her, Rosemerta the barmaid minced over, swinging three mugs by the handles.

She banged the heavy mugs on the table. "Hi, kids. Butterbeer?" she asked, pitching her voice over the noise.

"Absolutely!" they replied together. Any other day, their shouts would have been quite loud. Today, they were barely audible.

Rosemerta grinned. "Okay!" she shouted back and waved her wand. The glasses filled with foamy butterbeer. Menus appeared on the table a moment later. "You kids might try the new glowing spaghetti the elves came up with. I had it for lunch today. It's great! I recommend it."

Harry scratched his chin. "Er, I'll have to think about that for a second." He didn't pause half a second. "Yeah, I'll get that." He turned to Ron. "Don't reckon Aunt Petunia'll be making anything like that at Privet Drive anytime soon!"

Ron laughed and proclaimed he wanted self-enlarging pork chops.

Rosemerta turned Hermione, but Hermione slapped her menu on the tabletop. "Magic! Magic! I don't know why we have to use magic for everything." Hermione scowled. "Just plain ice-cream. Thank you."

Rosemerta raised a brow. "Um, okay. Whatever you want."

Ron interjected, glowering at Hermione, "Ignore her. She's on about the house-elves."

Rosemerta looked confused, but Hermione shouted, "RON!"

"Well, you are," he rejoined.

Rosemerta shook of her head. "Listen, if you kids want anything else, just ask, okay?" She tapped the menus and they vanished.

Ron watched Rosemerta slip back into the crowd. "Look what you did, Hermione! You scared her off!"

Hermione flashed a glare at him. "I did not! If anything, it was probably guilt over the house-elves!"

"GUILT?" Ron balled his fist on the table.

Hermione shot back, "Yes! She ought to be feeling some! Do you really think she does all the work around here?"

Harry shrank back. He could tell the two were about to really lay into each other. Fortunately, their food appeared on the table--steaming, glowing, and getting bigger all the time. Ron jumped on his pork chops with relish; the chops were already about half the size of his rather large plate, but Hermione pushed her ice-cream away. She was muttering under her breath at Ron, whose glare was practically daring her to say anything as he stuffed in the chops.

"Oh, come on, Hermione!" Ron finally shoved the ice cream bowl back at her. "Eat it! It's not like we've ever seen a house-elf here."

"Well, why would we?" she exclaimed. "We don't see them at Hogwarts either! Just because they don't go around showing off how hard they have to work!" She leaned forward. "Who do you think made all this appear?" She waved her hand at the table. "They're probably below us right now, working like the slaves they are! How can we expect them to help us against Volde..." A nearby head twisted her direction. Hermione pursed her lips and dropped her voice, "You-Know-Who, when you consider the way they've been treated? Do you think it's even remotely possible that Honeydukes treats their elves fairly?"

Ron muttered, "Who knows? They're sure not treated bad at Hogwarts." Ron went back to his food.

Hermione jumped on it. "That's because Dumbledore is kind to them. He's perfectly willing to give wages to house-elves." She sat back. "I don't understand why they won't take it!"

Ron rolled his eyes and jammed another bite into his mouth. His cheeks puffed out as the meat swelled. He kept talking. "So they don't want money! Why force it on them? Look how Dobby turned out with his pay!"

Harry choked. He didn't think Dobby, with his mis-matched socks and one day a month off, might be the best example of a freed house-elf.

"Harry!" Hermione turned to him.

He shoved a meatball in his mouth and looked away as fast as he could. "Not a part of this conversation today," he mumbled. Hermione's eyes narrowed, but she turned her blazing glare back to Ron.

"Why won't you just agree with me on this?" she demanded.

Ron fired right back. "I just don't feel like listening to you spew all night!"

"I know what you mean, Ron Weasley; and it's not spew!" She shouted. "It's S-P-E-W!"

Harry kept eating, doing his best not to listen to his two best friends squabble. He hoped it wouldn't take them the rest of dinner to find something else to fight about. But it probably would.

Harry's gaze wondered to the window. There were wizards out there, in the street. Perhaps someday he would be among them, showing off fancy evening robes or milling about. Many hurried by on business of their own. Some talked to friends, or waved without stopping. Walking quickly, walking slowly.

Harry thought, _What will I be like when I'm grown up? _Graduated from Hogwarts and moved away from the Dursleys?

When he became a wizard in his own right, a famous Auror, if he managed to get good enough grades. If Snape didn't flunk him out of potions, or right out of existence first. Was that really what he wanted to be, when he grew up, after all? It was a dangerous job...

Harry felt a certain sadness come over him. If only his godfather had lived to share these decisions with him, it would have made life so much easier. Harry was sure he would have been happier if he could have had a real family with Sirius. Not like the life he had with people who hated him, like the Dursleys or Snape.

A lone man on the far side of the street kept to the shadows and wrapped a battered cloak tight.

Harry dropped his fork with a clatter. Ron and Hermione looked at him with surprise.

Harry was staring out the window. He couldn't believe his eyes!

Sirius! It had to be!

That half-starved figure, that walk, the long dark hair slipping from under the hood as the man paused and half-turned toward Honeyduke's window...Harry knew he would remember his godfather forever, and that was him! Sure, Dumbledore had assured him that Sirius had died last year, but Harry still held a kernel of hope that his godfather had not left him forever when he fell into the veil in the Department of Mysteries. That he had not died, and that he would be back to talk to Harry again.

Harry stared. A ghost? No, the figure was far too substantial and not at all silvery. Maybe it wasn't Sirius after all.

The cloaked figure moved away, and Harry made up his mind. He had to know for certain. He shoved his chair back and bolted out of Honeydukes.

Ron watched in surprise as Harry shoved his way through the crowd. "Hey, Harry! Hey! Wher're'ya going?" Ron called.

The tavern door slammed shut in answer.

Ron turned to Hermione. "Where's he going?"

"I don't know." Hermione jumped up and shoved her way to the door. "Harry!" she called, but he didn't look back. He was across the street, then out of sight.

Ron leaned out next to her, pork chop in hand, and looked up and down the street. "Er, back in a minute?"

Hermione shrugged worriedly. "Maybe he saw someone? I think we better follow him." They took out after Harry.

A few minutes later they came running back, tripping over each other, without Harry.

"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione shrilled, as she shoved the front door open. "Professor McGonagall! Help! Help!"

"Miss Granger! What's the matter?" McGonagall hurried toward the two huffing, hysterical students. They both began talking and gesturing at once. "Stop! Stop!" she finally demanded. "I can't understand either one of you! Miss Granger, what's going on?"

They both stopped at the same time. By now Flitwick and the other adults were grouped around them; students stared from their tables, and others were whispering.

Ron, wide-eyed, nodded at Hermione, who gulped. She stammered out, "Professor! We-we were having supper with Harry, but, but he just--took off! And when we followed him, there was somebody else there. The person put a... a..." She stopped and looked to Ron, who shook his head. "I don't know what it was! He gave something to Harry. Harry took it and--vanished! WE DON'T KNOW WHERE HARRY IS!"

Ron was chewing his lip, looking back and forth between Hermione and McGonagall, nodding in vigorous agreement.

Hermione stopped and took a breath. "But the thing is, the man, he looked like Sirius Black!"

McGonagall gasped, reaching out a hand to steady herself. "Professor Flitwick! Dumbledore is at the school. Contact him immediately. Tell him Harry Potter is missing! Ron... Hermione! Quickly! Show me the place where you last saw him! Hurry. We have to find Mr. Potter!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Sirius Friends**

Harry heard Hermione call his name, but he didn't stop to call back. They'd probably follow him anyway. He was nearing the rock wall that bordered the wizarding village, when he again caught sight of the ragged figure, a silhouette in the falling dark. The man was on the other side of the stile. Perhaps trudging up the path toward the cave where Sirius and Buckbeak had once lived? Harry had to know.

He called out, "Sirius, wait! Please, Sirius! If it's you, please wait! Sirius!"

The figure jerked, then froze. A moment later the man turned, as if stunned. Slowly, warmly, he opened his arms to Harry.

Harry could see the smile now, the dark eyes shining. It _was_ Sirius! He ran toward the wall, to his godfather, sudden tears starting in his eyes. Happiness beyond anything he'd ever felt filled him. "Sirius! Sirius!" he cried.

But Sirius abruptly put both hands out before him, shaking his head violently. Harry stopped.

"What? What's wrong?" Then he heard: "Harry! Harry! What are you doing? Who is that? Stop! Harry, stop!" It was Hermione and Ron.

Harry's heart sagged. They had the worst timing! Why did they have to interrupt this meeting with Sirius? Then Harry's head cleared. No! They would be glad to see his godfather, too!

Harry turned to hail them, but Sirius was sweeping back down the path toward towards Harry. His eyes were watering despite his smile, and Harry suddenly forgot about Ron and Hermione. He wanted to hug his godfather, to hold him and know he was really there!

Sirius stopped outside arms' reach, and Harry began to clamber over the wall between them.

Sirius put out his hands and shook his head. "Don't come over the fence," he whispered hoarsely. Harry could barely hear him.

"What? Why?" Harry was stunned.

Again Sirius whispered, "Someone in the village might recognize me." He reached inside his robe and grabbed a flat object from his pocket. He slapped it into Harry's hand and gave a harsh laugh; his voice was odd: "Take this! I'll see you soon, Harry. Good-bye!"

"What? Sirius!"

Behind him he heard Hermione shout, "Who is that? Harry!"

But Harry didn't have a chance to respond. Without warning, Harry felt as if a hook had caught him somewhere behind the navel. He was falling, spinning out of control.

The ground slammed against his feet and Harry dropped to his knees in the dark grass. Square stone shapes hemmed him in, but this was not the edge of Hogsmeade. Nor was it the cave where Sirius had lived, or even his dreary old house at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

_How did I get here?_ Harry thought. The answer came to him; he held it in his hand. A portkey!

Harry looked at the object and found himself staring into his own startled eyes, reflected in a shining glass mirror. But not just any mirror. This one was identical to the one that his godfather had once secretly given to him, the one Harry had thrown and shattered in frustration after Sirius had disappeared into the veil. Identical to one that was to have allowed him to speak to Sirius when he was alive, if only Harry had used it!

Harry's heart beat hard. A second chance! His attention focused solely on the fact that he now held the means to contact his godfather. He knew it!

Harry called into the mirror. "Sirius? Sirius!" His breath clouded the surface, but no face materialized, no voice called back to him.

"Sirius?" he cried again.

His smile faded; his godfather did not appear.

"Answer!" Harry's voice cracked; uneasiness clutched at his chest. "Please?" His voice was tight. "Sirius Black!" His heart began to ache with frustration. He grabbed the mirror tightly in both hands. "If you're not going to answer, why give me this? Why make it a portkey?" He rocked back on his heels and moaned, "Why aren't you here?"

The mirror did not respond, but another voice did. "I am here, Harry Potter."

With a throb of joy Harry looked up...

And his heart slammed to a stop.

He recognized his new surroundings.

Yes, he recognized them, and he began to feel very frightened indeed.

His new surroundings were none other than the graveyard where Tom Riddle was buried, the place where Wormtail had killed Cedric with the unforgivable curse Avada Kedavra. The very place where Voldemort had been reborn!

Harry began to shake.

There was the tombstone to which he had been tied, while Wormtail had cut his arm and taken Harry's blood. And there was the burned out ash of the fire where a boiling potion had granted Voldemort a new body. Harry remembered the splash as Wormtail threw his own severed hand into the fluids. Harry began to panic. Wormtail's chant played in his mind: flesh of the servant, blood of the enemy...

The portkey slipped from Harry's numbed fingers. He could hear in his mind the high-pitched laugh of the reborn Voldemort, the whoosh of cloaks as Death Eaters apparated around him. Wormtail's sobbing. Loudest of all the slithering of the snake through the grass, as it circled, circled...

The grasses parted and waved as something long and undulating moved amongst them. Harry clamped a hand over his mouth to stop from screaming. Voldemort's snake was coming!

Harry felt a tug. Someone pulled the wand from his waistband. Harry jumped up. Sirius stood behind him, holding the wand just out of Harry's reach.

"Sirius!" Harry shouted, joyful but doubly frightened at being disarmed. He made a grab for his wand. "Sirius! We have to get out of here! Don't you know where we are?" His godfather's manner, so evasive as Harry tried again to grab the wand. "Sirius! Stop it!"

The two stared at each other. Harry spread his legs aggressively. "We're in danger, Sirius! Give me my wand. Now!"

Suddenly Sirius gave nervous bleat of laughter. "Don't be afraid, Harry Potter. Soon this will all be over." But his was not the voice of Harry's godfather.

Instead it was wheezing and wheedling. Harry knew it instantly. Peter Pettigrew. The man who had caused his parents' deaths. The one who had betrayed them all to Voldemort.

"You're--you're not Sirius!" he gasped.

"No?" Pettigrew wheezed. "Perhaps partly? Still no? Hmm. Polyjuice doesn't make you into the person it makes you into, does it?"

Harry jumped at Pettigrew, but Peter's spell knocked him aside. He pointed the wand at Harry and kept talking.

"Still, you know who I am, don't you? I'll only be this way a while longer. You should try to enjoy the experience, Harry. You know how long it takes to brew Polyjuice Potion!" Peter gestured expansively to himself. "I had to find some of Sirius' hair. It took me a while, as a rat. But the ones I found seem to have worked well enough to turn me into Sirius. Don't you think?"

Harry felt hot tears in his eyes. He felt lost in this place of horrors, fooled by his parents' betrayer, by his desire to see his godfather again. He shouted at Wormtail. "No! You're nothing like him. You're not like Sirius at all!"

Wormtail waggled the wand and sneered, "Fooled you well enough, didn't I?"

Harry tried to deny it, but Pettigrew ignored him. He bent to the ground.

"Hah! My Lord's portkey," Peter breathed. He polished the mirror against his coat and slipped it into a pocket. "Protected from the Ministry of Magic's prying eyes; not traceable by the likes of them. Put to good use tonight!"

Pettigrew pointed to the mansion. "Nagini has gone to collect the Dark Lord. My Lord will come, and he will call his Death Eaters. And he will use you. The Dark Lord will use you to return to his rightful place!"

Harry's stomach dropped. He turned and ran.

He pelted across the graveyard, jumping over stones, feeling the grasses tug at his clothes, but no thudding footsteps echoed in his ears. _Why isn't Pettigrew following? _Harry thought.

A black wrought-iron fence loomed against the graying sky, a growing presence toward which Harry ran. He was forced to stop. Harry ducked behind a tall headstone at the edge of the yard and looked back toward Tom Riddle's grave.

Pettigrew was no where to be seen.

Harry knew the man hadn't apparated; there hadn't been any tell-tale crack! But Peter was definitely not where he had been.

Rats began crowding at Harry's feet. They screeched and bit at each other, crawling up the headstone. Harry jumped away, only to run into something solid.

Peter was standing right behind him. His rat features smoothly finished the transformation into Sirius' gaunt, handsome face.

Harry's scream was cut short by the shining silver hand that darted from beneath Peter's battered robe. Peter grabbed Harry around the throat, lifting him from his feet. Harry pounded at the hand, but Peter Pettigrew's new member was strong and impervious to Harry's blows.

"How do you like my Lord's gifts, Potter? You haven't had a chance to admire this one properly, have you?" Peter put his face close to Harry's. "Just knowing I have this silver hand makes me all the more excited to see all my old friends. I'm sure that your presence here will bring them out eventually, even the werewolf. In fact, wouldn't you say, the entire Order may yet come to collect the Great Harry Potter!"

Harry's face was turning red. Old friends? Professor Lupin! The silver hand could harm him as surely as a silver bullet. Harry screwed up his eyes. He was going to hit this man who looked like his godfather. He didn't want to, but he would! Harry would not die here; and he would not let Pettigrew kill any one else! Harry drew back his fist and punched Pettigrew square on the nose.

Peter dropped Harry and doubled over. Harry turned to run, but Peter wheezed out, "Don't you want to stay and see what I can do?"

_No!_ Harry thought, but he found himself mesmerized, not by Wormtail the wretch, but by Sirius his godfather, kneeling on the ground, blood streaming from his nose. The silver hand rose to the bleeding mass. A moment later Sirius grinned up at Harry, and wiped away the blood.

Peter stood. His nose was completely healed. "This hand has many uses, Harry. Not the least of which enables me to heal myself. Help myself. Something your father certainly never did." Peter leapt forward.

Surprised by Pettigrew's sudden aggressiveness, Harry stumbled back. He was easily captured again.

Peter hissed into his ear, "You wanted to turn me over to the dementors in Azkaban, Harry. But that will never happen. I am going to wring your neck!" He locked the silver hand on Harry's throat.

"That's enough, Wormtail!" Voldemort's red eyes blazed through the darkness of the graveyard. Light flared at the tip of Voldemort's wand.

Peter kept squeezing, though less so. "WORMTAIL!" Voldemort pointed the wand and Pettigrew was pulled from Harry. Harry dropped to his knees. He gasped and rubbed his throat.

Voldemort stared coldly at Harry. "I desire him alive for now."

Pettigrew was suddenly submissive and bowed his head. "Yes, my Lord."

Voldemort approached him. "So, Wormtail. You have brought me the Boy-Who-Lived. You have proved again your faithfulness to me. To show my gratitude, I am going to give you the portkey."

Peter smiled apprehensively. "Thank you, my Lord." Pettigrew quivered outside of Voldemort's reach.

Voldemort held out his hand. "Now, give me your arm, Peter."

Pettigrew inched back. "Still afraid?" Voldemort asked archly.

Suddenly Wormtail pushed back his sleeve and proudly held out his left arm. The Dark Mark was limned against his pale skin. "No, my Lord. I serve you faithfully!"

Voldemort took Peter's arm in his hand and said to Harry, "I believe that all my family will be interested in seeing what I have in mind for you–to help me with my potion and witness the increase of my powers!" He touched his wand to Wormtail's arm. "Harry Potter, I know you remember my Death Eaters. Let me call them now."

Harry stood against the gravestone, watching in horror as Death Eaters apparated around him. Ignoring Harry, they crawled to their master, kissed the hem of his robe and backed away, to stand encircling Voldemort, leaving gaps in the circle as they had done once before.

"My family," Voldemort's high voice rang out, "You have come! Faithful brothers and sisters, here you find me with my body restored, my power reinvigorated!"

There were sounds of assent. "My Lord, my Lord," they muttered. Voldemort raised his hands over them.

"I am your Lord. Tonight, I will show you why." Voldemort turned to Harry. "At first, I could not touch this boy. But in this place you saw me use the Boy-Who-Lived to resurrect my body. I tasted his blood. I can touch him now." Voldemort pointed at Harry and pain blossomed in Harry's head.

Harry pressed his hands to his head trying to quell the effects of the pain, but a moment later Voldemort let him go.

"Yet, the danger has not passed! The orb that held the key to my life was shattered this summer past!"

There were low moans from the group; some groveled, others bowed their heads.

"But I tell you it does not matter. And you have learned to be more careful with my property, have you not?"

There were whimpers.

Voldemort took Harry's wand from Wormtail's hand and slipped it into his robe. He lifted a finger and Harry found himself floating to Voldemort. "I do not need prophesies to take power, nor to take life. Your mother's protection now runs in my veins. It tastes sweet to me!" A small smile curled the slit of his mouth. He turned from Harry. "Brothers! This year past I have worked to find a way to take the magical barrier from around this boy. I experimented; I knew it could be done. Tonight, I will take it all!"

Harry gasped, "No!"

Voldemort laughed. "Your life is at an end, Harry Potter. You will give me your mother's soul barrier. Then I will be rid of you, and it will be of small matter to throw off those who oppose me--the Muggle lovers, Dumbledore, the Weasleys and their ilk."

Harry couldn't bear to hear Voldemort's threats against his friends. "No! You can't! Even if you kill me, Dumbledore's still a more powerful wizard than you'll ever be! He beat you at the Ministry! You're going to die, whether you kill me or not!"

Voldemort's lips curled. "Such bravado! And such a thorn in my side, Harry Potter. But soon you will find out how wrong you are! In this house, my greatest spell is nearing completion. The cauldron is full. It is time to go!" Voldemort lowered his hand; Harry's feet touched the ground.

He panicked.

Harry bolted from the circle, but Voldemort had his hand on his wand more quickly than Harry could have thought possible. "_Imperio_!" Voldemort called.

Harry was suddenly rooted to the spot.

He stood frozen, but Harry's mind struggled vainly against the curse. He was sure he could shake it off, but it became harder and harder the more he fought.

_How was I ever able to throw it off when Moody cursed me? _Harry wondered. _Why is this so difficult?_

But this was worse, much worse. Voldemort held him to the spell, in a way Moody never had.

Voldemort laughed. "Ah, come. Don't fight so hard. Only, walk with me, Harry Potter."

Harry struggled even more, but soon he found himself placing one foot before the other, following as Voldemort led him toward the mansion where Tom Riddle had killed his father.

_I'm going to walk up to that place and I'm going to die_, Harry thought. But, why? Did he have to?

Harry felt his will return to him. He didn't have to go! It was his choice! Harry felt his feet coming back under his control. He would not walk to his death. He wouldn't be controlled by Voldemort! Harry balked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Walk Down Memory Lane**

Harry barely ran two steps before the Death Eater nearest him grabbed Harry's arms and dragged them behind his back.

Voldemort rounded on Harry in anger. Harry flinched back.

Without warning a sharp _crack_! split the air. No one moved. Not Harry, not the Death Eaters.

Professor Snape had apparated before the line of Death Eaters. He dropped swiftly to his knees, without looking at any of them, and touched his forehead to the ground.

"My Lord!" Snape's voice was very tight. "I have come!"

Harry couldn't believe it. Snape! Here! And he was calling Voldemort "Lord!" Harry suddenly knew he had been right about Snape all along. That conniving deceiver was in with Voldemort!

"Snape!" Harry shouted.

Voldemort whipped his wand up, spell at the ready, his snake eyes narrowed to slits. But Bellatrix LaStrange was even faster. Her wand flicked in an upstroke. "Severus!" She shrieked, "I'll kill you!"

Voldemort wheeled from Snape. He blasted the wand out of Bellatrix's grip. She stumbled to a halt, staring in surprise at her suddenly empty hand. Bellatrix's crazed eyes burned into Voldemort's.

"My Lord!" Lucius Malfoy stepped forward. "Why did you stop her? You proclaimed it yourself: Snape is to die!"

"Silence, Lucius!" Voldemort commanded. He scowled at Snape, shivering in the dirt. The Dark Lord's expression simmered with hate. Harry's scar began to burn, as Voldemort's anger coupled with his own.

Harry pulled at the Death Eater's arm tightening around his neck, but Voldemort hissed, "It is you, Severus Snape that I have long waited for. You, who have never once come, never once let me see your face since I was reborn. How often I've called." Voldemort pointed his wand toward Snape. "I do well to kill you now."

Snape buried his head beneath his arms. His ribs heaved a deep breath. "Please, my Lord," he gasped, "Do not!"

"No?" Voldemort mocked. "Then tell me how it is you dare to come back!"

"I had to," Snape pleaded. "The son of my enemy must die tonight!"

Harry struggled, but Voldemort paced around Snape. "Harry Potter? You come for him?" Voldemort leaned closer. "I do not trust you! What proof can you offer, before I kill you?"

Snape sat back, his eyes alight in his sallow face. "This, my Lord." He put his hand on his left forearm. Voldemort's nostrils flared as though he had sniffed out a prize. "And this." Snape reached into his black coat. The Death Eaters around him surged forward, wands out. Snape froze.

Voldemort held up a hand. The Death Eaters retreated to their places.

Snape watched the Dark Lord carefully as he withdrew his wand. He tapped his fingers and a moment later held aloft a glass orb filled with smoke. "Proof, my Lord!"

Harry gasped, as did many of the Death Eaters. Whispers filled the air, "The Prophesy! The Prophesy! Snape has the Prophesy!"

Over it all Harry shouted, "No! Snape! No! How did you get that? You can't give it to him!"

Voldemort held up his wand. "_Silencio_!" Harry and the Death Eaters fell silent. Voldemort leaned forward, holding his robes away from Snape. "Could it be?"

Snape gasped. "No! My Lord, it is not!"

Voldemort shifted again; his eyes glittered dangerously. "Then what is it?"

"My answer to your question," Snape replied. Pride mingled with fear in his voice. Snape flicked his wand. The prophesy orb rose from Snape's hand and hung in the air.

Smoke swirled and a woman's face appeared, one that Harry knew well, slowly revolving in the orb. Behind thick glasses, Sybil Trelawney's glazed eyes shone, huge and unfocused. She drifted to a stop, facing down toward Snape. The Hogwarts Divination professor's voice echoed harshly over the graveyard.

"Return thou tonight," Trelawney croaked, "Favored of the Dark Lord, return again, to his path, when the red star shines, set loose thy thoughts, set thou before the Dark Lord a gift of asphodel, that the boy may die!"

Snape dropped back to the ground.

Harry gaped in horror as the last words of the prophesy cut through him. Snape had returned to help Voldemort kill him tonight!

The orb dissolved and the smoke dissipated, taking Trelawney with it. Voldemort watched it go; there was an evil brightness in his gaze. Voldemort approached the prostrate Snape and kicked him in the side. "Get up, Professor Traitor!"

Snape scrambled to his feet and stood ignoble before Voldemort. "My Lord! Do you still doubt me?"

Voldemort hissed softly. "I doubt, Severus Snape. I doubt. You turned your back on your beliefs. You testified to the Ministry against your brethren." Several Death Eaters nodded and growled. They began to weave in a circle around Snape, Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort glanced at Snape's arm. "You took what is mine."

Snape's lips parted.

Voldemort shouted angrily as he pointed at Harry. "You have not lifted a finger against Harry Potter!"

"My Lord!" Snape rasped. "Only Dumbledore's word kept me out of Azkaban. Why should I act against him? Protecting the boy has kept me alive!" Snape's dark eyes darted around. The Death Eaters were seething nightmares as they moved. "Look at my brothers--they hate me! They want to kill me! I was afraid to come back!"

"That's not the reason you kept away!" Voldemort shouted. "You spared her!" Voldemort grabbed Snape's arm. The heat in Harry's scar rose. Images flashed in his mind: Snape face to face with Voldemort. The Dark Mark. Bella laughing as she dueled Snape. Snape fleeing before her. Across from Harry, Snape ripped his arm from Voldemort's grip.

"'Spared her?'" Snape cried, "She was my mother!"

"So! You confess!" Voldemort crowed. "You were not up to it, were you, Severus Snape?"

Snape cringed. "I was not."

Voldemort pointed his wand at Snape. "Weakness of the flesh will be punished! _Crucio_!"

Snape dropped to the ground, writing in agony.

Bellatrix screeched. She leapt forward. "Master! No! We agreed to kill him! Remember this?" She put her fist in the air; the Dark Mark was black.

Voldemort pointed and forced Bella's arm down. "Stop it, Bella! It is because of that I keep him alive!" Voldemort stared at the gasping Bella, until she calmed down.

He turned to Snape. "You wish to come back? You'd give over your valued place at Hogwarts?"

Snape nodded, his eyes closed. When he opened them he replied, "Yes. And I offer you a gift. The location of the Order of the Phoenix."

"YES!" Voldemort held his hands triumphantly to the sky. "The Secret-Keeper gives himself to me!"

Harry felt sick to his stomach. He kicked out in anger, struggling to get at Snape. "Snape! Don't!" Harry shouted. "You traitor! He trusts you! How dare you betray Dumbledore like this!" Harry bucked crazily. "I'll get away! I'll make sure the Order knows you're here! They'll know you came crawling to the call of this... monster!"

Harry felt a burning in him, ready to explode. He was going to stop Snape.

Snape stared, impassive, at Harry. "My Lord, the boy is weak. He makes himself vulnerable." Snape looked straight into Voldemort's eyes. "I beg your forgiveness. My Lord, I am prepared to accept your judgement." He glared at Harry. "I am yours to command. I will not leave you again."

Voldemort laughed. "Ah, ha, ha! Yes, you will be punished, Snape! But not tonight. There will only be celebration! Join with us in taking Harry Potter's protection from him!" Snape's lips twitched. Voldemort shouted, "Prove that you are truly mine. Make this boy crawl for me!"

Snape lifted his wand. The other Death Eaters raised theirs as well, but Snape walked straight past them. He looked down at Harry, who twisted and bucked. Snape's unfathomable eyes bored into Harry's mind.

Harry closed his eyes tight. Snape pressed his wand tip to Harry's forehead. "Don't close your mind to me, Potter!" Snape's voice droned. "You're a fool to fight!" His thoughts pressed on Harry but Harry retreated from them, struggling as hard as he could. Snape's thoughts advanced relentlessly.

Harry opened his eyes and spit in Snape's face. "I hate you, Severus Snape!" he shouted.

Snape's eyes darkened as he wiped his cheek. He barred his teeth. Snape advanced, staring Harry down. "Do you want to run away from me, Potter? Go to Dumbledore? Play the hero?" Snape swung his wand. "Only the grave holds the way out for you!"

"My Lord!" Wormtail suddenly shouted. "Snape is against you!" He leapt at Severus, bearing the Potions Master to the ground.

Snape rolled free, pushing Wormtail off him. Harry slammed his body against the distracted Death Eater holding him and slipped out of the man's grip. "_Accio _wand!" he called.

Harry's wand whipped out of Voldemort's robe and flew to his hand. Voldemort stood stunned. Someone kicked Harry's shins out from under him. He stumbled against Wormtail.

Peter twisted beneath him. Harry evaded the grip of Pettigrew's silver hand, but Harry's wand caught in Pettigrew's coat pocket. The pocket sagged open. Harry's wand popped out of his hand. The portkey mirror bounded away.

Snape stared after the reflecting glass. Suddenly, he whipped his wand around and shouted, "_Stupify_!"

Wormtail was blasted away. Snape snatched the portkey from the ground. A flash of light from his wand and Snape lobbed the mirror into the air. "Potter! Catch it!"

Harry found himself reaching into the air. _No! Don't touch it, stupid!_ He thought to himself. But he grabbed at the flying mirror anyway, unable to stop, reaching for it as if to catch a golden snitch. Harry's fingers closed around the mirror.

The familiar hook caught him; Harry felt himself being pulled away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Frozen **

Harry landed not five meters from where he had just been standing. He was still gripping the mirror, but he found he couldn't move. His mind screamed _Let me loose!_ But he couldn't speak or make any sound.

His eyes stared straight ahead. They felt dry; he couldn't blink.

But no one turned; no one seemed to know Harry was there. The Death Eaters were staring blankly at the spot where he had been. _They couldn't see him! _

Suddenly, there was a thudding impact. Snape stumbled to his knees; Voldemort had hit him.

Harry stared as Snape scrambled dizzily for his wand, but the Dark Lord plucked Snape's wand from the dirt. He grabbed Snape by the left wrist and hauled him to his feet, slamming him hard against the trunk of a large tree. Harry flinched inwardly. Voldemort forced Snape's arm over his head, pining him bodily against the trunk.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Voldemort hissed.

"Nothing; Potter had a portkey." Snape was shaking so hard Harry could barely tell what he said.

"Liar!" Voldemort snapped. He slapped Severus across the face, then paused. He breathed in deeply, and Voldemort's glittering eyes burned into Snape's dark ones. "So," he breathed. "You chose your side after all. And you've put yourself back in my hands." Snape closed his eyes tightly.

Voldemort considered the Professor for a moment, hefting the black wand he had stolen. The Dark Lord grasped it by the handle, and with great hate Voldemort thrust the wand straight through Snape's palm, driving it into the tree up to its hilt.

Snape's scream ripped through Harry. The professor's eyes dimmed, but he didn't faint. He stared at the sky, breathing hard.

Nothing more happened. Voldemort was watching, not moving. Finally, Snape raised his shaking right hand to the wand's hilt, and tried without success to pull the wand from both palm and tree.

Voldemort stepped up and threw Snape's hand away from the wand.

"That portkey was designed to bring Potter to me! Where is he?"

Though he trembled, Snape's cold eyes stared unblinkingly over Voldemort's shoulder. "I don't know. It's your portkey. You must know where he went."

Voldemort closed his fist over the wand and leaned closer to Snape.

"Yes. It is my portkey. And I know it wouldn't have sent him anywhere. Don't look away from me." Voldemort gripped Snape's jaw, forcing Snape to look at his distorted face, into his red, red eyes as he cast a spell. "_Legilimens_. Now, tell me. Where is the boy?"

"I don't know."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed suddenly. "So. Tell me where Potter is, or I will let your brothers have you!"

Snape shivered, a look of horror on his sallow face. He gave his head a convulsive shake.

Voldemort gave him a hard smile. "Either you will tell me, or you will tell them. But either way I will have Potter."

Voldemort tightened his grip around Snape's impaled hand, subtly grinding bones against wand.

"Don't lie to me, Professor. Where... did... you... send... Potter?"

Snape writhed under the delicate torturing.

"I won't... tell... you," Severus whispered.

"YOU WILL!" Voldemort jumped away and whipped out his own wand. "_Crucio_!"

Snape screamed; his legs buckled, but he was still pinioned by his wand. He scrambled desperately against the tree, torn by convulsions.

Voldemort stared coldly at Snape as he clawed at the bark. "You have said 'No' to me too many times, Severus Snape. You will never do it again."

Suddenly Peter Pettigrew spoke up, "Master! The potion! We need him to tell us where to find Harry Potter!"

Voldemort's red eyes pierced through Peter with loathing. Yet, after a moment he lifted the curse, allowing Snape to sag limply against the tree, his chest heaving in the after-math of agony. Voldemort lifted a finger and Snape's chin tipped up. "It is too late for you, Severus Snape. You know it. But here, I will have mercy. I need Potter more than I want you. Tell me where you sent him, and I will allow you to walk away. Hmm. Perhaps not walk." Voldemort stepped back, opening his arms. "But, I will stay your brothers' hands from you."

Snape stared about frenziedly as the shadows of the Death Eaters surged toward him.

"No, stay back!" he cried desperately. "Please! My Lord! Keep them away!" He began to beg in earnest.

Voldemort closed his arms and the Death Eaters retreated a step. "Then tell me where you sent Harry Potter."

Snape nodded. "Yes. Yes!" he moaned.

_NO!_ Harry's mind screamed, as he stood frozen by the gravestone. _DON'T TELL THEM ANYTHING, PROFESSOR! DON'T TELL THEM I'M HERE!_

"Don't hide what you know from me," Voldemort hissed. "_Imperio_! Now speak. Where is Harry Potter?"

Against his will, Snape's lips began to quiver and his teeth chittered together. "H-he...h..he...Ha-Har-Harry...t-tt...h-hher-eee...H-H-Hogs-s-meade."

Voldemort backed away. "To Hogsmeade? That's the best you could do? A reversal of my own spell? Snape, your years away from me have made you soft!" He laughed shrilly. "Wormtail! Go, pick up Harry Potter then!"

Wormtail disapparated with a sharp _crack_!

Harry didn't know what he felt. Relief, perhaps? Admiration? He could have laughed. Professor Snape had lied to Voldemort!

Wormtail was back a moment later. "My Lord," he wheedled, "Potter is not there. Snape has lied to you."

Voldemort barely registered surprise, but Lucius Malfoy strode forward, blond hair bright in the twilight. He cuffed Snape as hard as he could. Snape groaned and pressed his bruised face to his shoulder.

Voldemort shook his head reprovingly. "Tut. Mister Malfoy. Was that truly necessary?"

Malfoy nodded, his teeth barred.

"Yes, I suppose you are right, my friend. Perhaps an interrogation will do tonight." Voldemort put his face very close to Snape's. "Snape may have lied about our Mr. Potter's whereabouts, but I believe he is very close to...spilling... his guts."

Voldemort's lip curled as he stepped away. "I must check my potion. Wormtail, Nagini, come with me." Voldemort turned. "Brothers find out for me what I desire to know."

The Death Eaters converged on Snape.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Dark Marks the Spot**

Harry felt as if he had a first-row seat in learning how the Longbottoms had been tortured into insanity.

Voldemort's Death Eaters performed whatever curses came to mind on Snape. They manipulated him without mercy, ignoring the cries that punctured the night.

Harry strained with sympathy, unable to help as Snape twitched and jerked, forced into motion, though his pinned hand kept him from running away. It seemed to Harry that the Death Eaters were making no effort at all to find out where he was. Instead, the Cruciatus Curse flew at Severus relentlessly, while the Imperius Curse seemed to be favored as well--one Death Eater ordering Snape to say Harry was in Hogsmeade, another ordering him to say Hogwarts, while another commanded the Forbidden Forest. And Snape struggling to say none of them.

Far too soon he was uttering nonsense.

Suddenly Voldemort reappeared among his Death Eaters. "Brothers! Stop!" he ordered. They quickly lifted their curses and hexes, bowed to Voldemort, and backed to their familiar circle.

Snape was no longer gasping, nor crying; he only dangled pitiably against the tree, his bruised face laced with welts from stinging hexes.

Voldemort approached the tree and pointed his wand at Snape. "_Ennervate_." Snape's vacant eyes focused and he tried to gather his feet under him, though he was shaking hard.

Voldemort paced before him. "So. You thought you would hide from me, living in that rat infested castle, under Dumbledore's protective wing. You should have known his protection wouldn't last." Snape hardly reacted. He only stared about, making small, useless movements, twitching his fingers against his wand.

The Dark Lord put on an unhappy frown. "All my efforts...yet my potion spoils because Harry Potter has vanished. My spell goes to waste because of you!" Voldemort sketched a brief pattern in the air and a rope appeared, quickly binding Snape's right hand to a branch.

"You were our very dearest brother, Severus. I say, thought you were, and gifted you with an opportunity beyond dreams. But you are worse than a traitor. You used those dark eyes to spy on me, that sharp tongue to tell my secrets. Never again!" Voldemort's voice climbed higher, became shriller. He grasped the material of Snape's shirt sleeve and ripped it harshly downward. Snape's chest heaved as his hand took the force of the pull. "You are no family of mine!"

Voldemort pointed his wand to the Dark Mark burning an ugly black on Snape's angular forearm. "_Nimorte_!" he called.

"No!" Snape choked.

The tattoo began to writhe and smoke. A silvery serpent struggled, twisting from beneath Snape's skin. It lifted its ugly head to hiss at Snape and turned towards its master. The serpent became longer, disgorging itself from the skull's mouth. The snake's tail slipped free and the sinuous form flew through the air. It slithered into Voldemort's wand.

Bellatrix hissed, her eyes full of unhealthy delight. "Yes, My Lord!" she breathed. "Yes! Take back what's yours!"

Voldemort blew what was left of the smoke away. He traced the Dark Mark with his finger and frowned bitterly. "I do take what's mine. Snape will never betray me again."

Voldemort transfigured his wand into a gleaming silver knife and put the knife tip against Snape's skin, just above the Dark Mark.

"No..." Snape eyes tried to focus on the knife; he began to plead weakly, "Don't, please don't."

Voldemort's eyes flashed. "Never!" With an exhalation Voldemort sank the dagger crosswise into Snape's flesh. Snape screamed.

Harry caught his breath; he wanted to vomit, but he couldn't. He couldn't even close his eyes against watching as Voldemort carved the tattoo out of Snape's forearm.

_God! Please stop! Please stop!_ Harry thought.

But it didn't take long. Soon Voldemort dropped the bloody lump of flesh on the ground.

Snape fell, his face bluish and clammy with perspiration. He shuddered now as if very cold, while the blood pumped itself out of his arm and splattered on the ground.

Voldemort haughtily stepped back. "_Scourgify_," he hissed. The blood neatly cleaned itself from Voldemort's wand and robe. He kicked dirt over the Dark Mark on the ground. "Try to find me now, Professor Traitor," he hissed.

Voldemort began to walk up the path.

Peter scurried past Voldemort. He poked the tip of his wand into Snape's wound, gouging at the exposed muscles and tendons. Snape recoiled, but when Pettigrew stepped away Harry saw that the bleeding in Snape's arm had nearly ceased.

"Wormtail!" Voldemort reproved. "What are you doing?"

"My Lord!" Wormtail shivered, "You don't know where the Potter boy is yet. Kill Snape now and it may be days or even weeks before we find him! Better...better to keep Snape alive and torture the secret out of him!"

Voldemort scowled at Wormtail. "That time has past. The potion must be remade. Let Snape die." Voldemort turned to the others. "Come, my Brothers. Come help with my creation."

Peter grabbed Voldemort's arm. "But Snape!"

"What about him?" Voldemort replied coldly.

Wormtail dropped his hand. "Master, he will escape."

Voldemort looked at Snape, drooping against the tree. "If he does, where will he go? He won't be able to apparate in this state. No one will come to help him... not even those Muggles in the village. None will come here. I will be back shortly and watch him die, as I desire."

"My Lord!" Wormtail interjected. "You are not the only one that Snape has betrayed!"

Voldemort rounded on him angrily, "Wormtail! Do not get above yourself! Leave him and come up to the house!" Voldemort turned and left without looking back to see if Pettigrew was following him up the hill.

"I will bring Snape." Wormtail gritted to himself. "He must not escape."

Peter reached toward Snape, but Malfoy seized Wormtail's silver wrist. "Do not disobey your Lord, Peter, or I will make certain you do not live long enough to learn the consequences of your actions. You will follow the will of your Lord!"

Wormtail glared into Malfoy's pale eyes, but he couldn't hold the contact. Pettigrew jerked his hand from Malfoy's loosening grip and turned to follow the Death Eaters up to the Riddle mansion. "I follow my Lord's will," Wormtail growled as he stalked away.

Malfoy's derisive snort of laughter followed after.

Lucius turned to Snape. "We will come back," Lucius said. "When we do, I hope to get my share!" With a last sneer at Snape, Malfoy squared his shoulders and marched up the hill.

Harry regarded Snape. The professor's head hung limply, his eyes were closed. Had the torture had been too much for him? Harry found himself praying that it had not. He realized had wronged the Professor greatly. Harry had to make it up! But for now, it was up to him to free both himself and Professor Snape. Harry strained himself and tried to think of some way to break free of the spell holding him still.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Snape Unbound**

Snape's hooded eyes followed the Death Eaters as they trudged up the hill and into the house. As the door slipped shut, Snape began to fumble with the rope binding his right hand. His fingers shifted loops and wrapped the rope in strange patterns around itself.

Suddenly the rope slithered to the ground.

Harry's eyes snapped to the sound. _How did he do that?_

Severus didn't even glance at the rope. He was already struggling with freeing his wand and himself from the tree. He tried to twist the wand, but it didn't budge. Snape tried harder, twisting and straining himself, but his grip only slipped off. He caught a breath and braced himself against the trunk. His face was very white. Finally Snape held out his hand and croaked, "_Accio _wand."

Nothing happened.

He caught a breath and whispered again--a shrinking spell on the wand, this time. Nothing. He tried to enlarge it, to break it, finally to shove it completely into the tree, but the wand would not respond. Snape pushed half-heartedly against the trunk; he was beginning to shake again. He leaned against the tree and closed his eyes, looking wholly defeated. The wand remained firmly wedged in place.

Harry was frightened. _No! Please don't give up! Keep trying! Please, Professor, we need you! I need you! Keep trying!_

But Professor Snape didn't stir--he only stared blankly at the stones in the graveyard and dropped further against the tree. His eyes drifted shut.

Harry suddenly felt himself able to move slightly. Though he wasn't entirely free of the spell, he called quietly. "Professor! Professor Snape!" There was slight movement. He called again, a bit louder. "Snape!"

Snape's eyes slowly drew open. He looked up, and his gaze fell on the house. His eyes focused suddenly--the door to the mansion had swung to. Desperation came to Snape's face as he wedged his fingers under his pinned hand and began to pry frantically. Snape was struggling now without thought, without worry of harming himself. His hand jumped from the end of the hilt with a spray of blood and Snape dropped straight to the ground.

* * *

Harry hoped Snape would come to soon. It seemed like an eternity had passed since Snape had fallen to the ground. The darkness of the night storm had covered them, though light from the mansion filtered down. Harry didn't know what Voldemort was doing in the house, or what his Death Eaters were up to either, but Harry felt sure they wouldn't be gone much longer.

A crack of thunder exploded overhead. Snape cried out and rolled into a ball. A moment later he lifted his black eyes to the sky. He seemed disturbed as he touched the welts on his face and felt others on his body. His right hand found the place where the Dark Mark had been. It was no longer bleeding, but the spot remained as a gouge into the skin and muscle of his arm. A strangled sob escaped Snape's lips.

In contrast, the hole in his hand was bleeding profusely. The thin bones were snapped. In the darkness Snape reached for his torn coat sleeve and ripped it free. He wound the material around the palm of his hand. Then Snape began to hitch himself across the gravel and dirt of the cemetery yard. He held his left hand stiffly, but the fingers of his right were spread ahead of him feeling, feeling...

Deafening thunder crashed again. Snape jerked as if struck. He stopped crawling and dropped his head. He was shaking and sweaty.

Harry, standing nearly frozen just a few meters away, jumped with concern, "Professor? Are you all right? What's wrong?"

Snape's head whipped up. "Potter! Potter, shut up!" he hissed. "Do you want them to hear you?"

Harry lowered his voice. "You're hurt! I can help you! Professor! Lift the spell on me, and we'll get out of here!"

Snape shook his head. "Just stay there! Don't speak! Just let me..." He curled his left hand tighter around the bandage and began to crawl slowly forward again, fingers feeling ahead once more.

Harry thought he could jump from his skin with impatience. "What can I do?"

"Shut up!" Snape snapped in exasperation. He came to the area where Harry's wand had clattered to the ground. He felt around in the dark, slowly touching branches and cobbles, roots and rocks. His trembling fingers closed tight around something invisible.

Harry leaned forward. "What is it?"

Snape's fingers slid along a long, straight shape. "This."

Snape spoke to the object in his hand, and a wonderful feeling spread through Harry's body. He could move, he could control his body. Best of all, suddenly visible in Snape's hand, was Harry's wand.

Harry dropped the portkey and bounded forward, but Snape lowered his head to his arm. A moment later his eyes were closed.

"No!" Harry panicked. "Professor! Don't faint! Come on! Wake up! Wake up!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Interlude & Escape**

Snape sank to the ground as he finished the spell. Harry hurried over and took his wand from Snape's insensate fingers. He shook Snape's shoulder. "Professor. Wake up! I'm free. Come on, wake up! We've gotta go!" Snape didn't answer.

A stroke of lightening lit the sky, illuminating the professor's face. Harry stared at the shiny weals crisscrossing Snape's sallow face. He suddenly felt both grateful and guilty that either of them were there. He touched his wand to one of the welts and mumbled a counter curse.

Snape woke with a start as the counter curse sparked over his skin. He slapped the wand away, breathing hard, but then his eyes narrowed. A moment later he put his hand to the fading lump. "Don't touch me, Potter," he growled.

A rumble of thunder made Harry look to the sky. Snape levered himself onto an elbow and forced himself to his feet. "Why are you still here? You should be gone." His eyes darkened as he swayed.

Harry jumped to his feet. "What? I'm not going anywhere without you!" Harry reached out, but Snape shrugged him off.

Snape stared at him. "Yes, you are. I told you before: the grave holds the way out. Now go." Snape turned his back, looking for the blood splattered tree.

"What do you mean?" Harry shook his head as Snape stepped away. "How does killing myself get me out of here?" he asked humorlessly.

Snape turned a withering stare at Harry. "How would that help us, Potter?"

Harry bit his lip. "It's just...You said the grave holds a way out, but...doesn't that mean dying? Sir?" Snape blinked at him. "I don't understand. Just say what you mean."

Professor Snape stared. "I do say what I mean." Snape stepped up to the tree and pulled at the wand hilt. It didn't move. Finally, Snape's lip twitched. "'He's got Padfoot in the place where it's hidden.' Hmm?" He looked over his shoulder at Harry.

Harry flinched angrily at the ridicule in Snape's voice. "I _got _it's a code!"

Snape flicked his arm and turned against the tree. "So figure it out then!"

Harry dropped his hand. "How can I? I don't know what it means!"

Snape barred his yellowed teeth. "Even Pettigrew is sharper than you. He seems to have gotten the point, even if you didn't, Potter. One of these gravestones will get you to Hogwarts, if that's where you want to go. So choose it and get out of here!"

Harry looked around sharply. He was irritated by Snape's patronizing. What did he know? Harry felt he didn't know anything about these graves! How was he supposed to know which would send him back to Hogwarts?

"Still don't understand?" Snape's voice purred against the grumbling thunder, "How surprising. Then let me enlighten you, Mr. Potter. Tom Riddle's grave is your way out. All you have to do is touch your wand to it, if you can figure out something so simple." Snape pushed himself up the tree.

Harry was starting to hate Snape again. He was just beginning to regret having used that counter curse. Maybe he could lay a stinging hex on Snape, too, just because. "Wait! You're saying Riddle's grave is a portkey?"

Snape pursed his lips. "Not all portals are portkeys, Mr. Potter. The stone will not disappear; nor is it under Ministry supervision. And it will only work for you."

"Oh." Harry looked questioningly to Snape, then slowly approached Riddle's headstone. "Why only..."

But as he put his hand to the marker, the dark clouds broke. Sheets of rain washed his hair into his eyes. He turned to Snape, standing in the soaking rain and staring at the mansion. Snape hadn't moved.

Harry frowned. "Aren't you coming?"

Snape's brows knit. "You don't listen to me at all, do you, Potter? I have to find my own way from here." His shoulders slumped. "So, go." A moment later Snape sank to his knees in the rain.

Harry ran back to him. There was no way he was leaving Snape here. "Can't you apparate out of here? That's how you got here, right, Professor?"

Snape's eyes drifted shut. "I planned to. I would have had the strength, if you would have gone when you should have." His voice faded. "I can barely stand up. Do you really think I could apparate now?"

Harry caught Snape's shoulders as he fell. Harry was suddenly frightened. Snape was hurt. Hurt for Harry's sake. He wouldn't leave the professor here for the Death Eaters to find. They would come back and kill Snape if he stayed. Professor Snape would die like Sirius had died, or worse.

Harry tried hard to keep his head. Maybe if he could provoke Snape, he would find the energy to apparate. What would make him mad?

Harry filled his voice with accusation as he shook Snape. "You didn't come all this way to find me, did you? What did you want to do? Help Voldemort along? Watch me die? I heard that prophesy! Small payback to my Dad for saving your life!"

Snape stared at him. "What?"

Harry was going to get a rise out of Snape somehow. "You didn't come here to save me of your own accord, did you? You don't even want to protect me! You don't care about anybody except yourself! So who sent you? Dumbledore?"

Color drained from Snape's face. He was shouting now. "Not protect you? People were trying to protect you before you were even born! They died because of you! Why don't you see what is right in front of your face, Potter? No! As long as you get your own way, follow your own rules, ignore those that are trying to help you...teach you...Get out of here, Potter, before you see another life wasted!"

"No!" Harry thundered back. "If you've got the power to shout at me, then use it to apparate out of here!"

Snape's lips parted...

"Is too late for that!" A voice cackled out of the rain. "MAS-TERRRSSS!" Kreacher shrieked.

Harry jumped around, immediately raising his wand. But the Black family's house-elf vanished with a _crack_! Harry's hex slashed though empty air.

Harry grabbed Snape's arm. "COME ON! We're going!"

Snape hissed and jerked back. "My wand. I have to have it! You go!"

"Who cares?" Harry grabbed Snape's coat and hauled him up. "Leave it!"

"No!" Snape's shriek turned into a short scream when Harry grabbed his arm. "Professor! You have to move!"

Snape tried to pull away from Harry's tightening grip, but Harry jerked him forward. "Come on! What is wrong with you!"

They struggled, Harry pulling them both toward Riddle's grave. Snape managed to shove Harry's hand from his arm and hissed. "I can't use the stone anyway, Potter! I have to get my wand. Just go! I'll get out of this."

"No!" Harry made another grab at Snape. He was beginning to feel wild--angry and frightened. Lightening lit the sky as the door of the mansion slammed open. "I'm not leaving you here for them! Stop fighting me! There must be a way to make it work for you, too!" Harry grabbed a fistful of Snape's coat and jabbed his wand at the headstone. He had no control of his magic this time, just a desperate desire to escape and take Snape with him.

The Death Eaters bolted down the path toward them, Kreacher laughing manically and pointing. "There they is, Masters!"

Lucius Malfoy reached into his robe, and his wand whipped through the air. He shouted, "_Avada Kedavra_!" just as Voldemort shrieked: "I WANT THEM BOTH ALIVE!"

Green light streaked through the graveyard. Harry leapt forward, dragging Snape after him.

There was a bloodcurdling screech.

The curse slammed into the professor. He was thrown against Harry and they tumbled into the gravestone.

The two of them vanished.

Lucius Malfoy slowed to a stop. He stood on the hillside with his eyes closed, biting his lips together. A stifling, cold silence built behind him. The other Death Eaters stood as still as he. Lucius started shaking; he didn't want to turn.

On the hill behind him Voldemort began to scream.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: In the Corral**

Harry tumbled onto the dirt, his scar a ball of fire. He pinched at it, trying to get the agony to subside, but he couldn't stop screaming.

Nearby a door banged open. Light spilled out of the oversized hut, and Hagrid's deep voice called, "What's goin' on? 'oo's out there?"

Harry moaned as loud as he could, "Hagrid! Please help! It's Harry!"

A flurry of much lighter steps accompanied the thump of Hagrid's giant boots. Harry saw two smaller figures silhouetted by Hagrid's swinging lantern. They stopped in the pumpkin patch.

Ron's voice cracked in the darkness, "Harry? Where are you?"

"In...the corral," Harry gasped.

The gate crashed open and Hermione pounded across the dirt to throw her arms around Harry. "Where've you been? We were so worried!" She let go with a start. "Harry! You're soaked!" She pulled out her wand. Her spell dried him instantly.

Harry squeezed at his face again.

"You okay?" Ron dropped to his knees.

Hagrid set his lantern beside them. "Yur scar botherin' ya, 'arry?"

Harry tried to nod, "Yes, ow! It hurts!" Tears squeezed between his lids.

Hermione threw her arms around Harry and held him tight as he gasped against her shoulder. "Where were you?"

Harry squinted up at her; the pain was lessening. He gritted out, "With Peter Pettigrew."

"Wormtail?" she gasped. "We saw you go with Sirius!"

Ron nodded agreement. "You apparated!"

Harry shook his head, cringing as another flare of pain stabbed through his skull. "Of course I didn't! It was a portkey." He sat back and rubbed his forehead. "I thought Peter was Sirius, too. He'd used Polyjuice Potion and took me to... to Tom Riddle's grave site."

Hermione gasped, "How did you get away?"

"I..."

Harry broke off as Hagrid suddenly jumped to his feet. He bounded past Harry into the shadows. A dark shape lay in the corner of the corral.

Ron cut in, "What is that?"

Hagrid didn't answer; his bulk covered the figure. Harry's heart surged. He had managed to pull Snape through the portal with him after all! Then Harry remembered the Avada Kedavra. He gasped. "No! Professor Snape!" Harry staggered to his feet.

The three teenagers rushed in a clustered knot toward Hagrid, but he put out his hands. "No! Stay back!"

"Why?" Ron demanded, but Hagrid had turned back to Snape.

"Just stay there a mom'," Hagrid answered. "I think he's..." Hagrid grunted as he rolled the figure over.

Hagrid turned to Harry. Dark water pooled in the dirt around Hagrid's knees. "Harry!" Hagrid's gruff voice broke. "What's happened to him?"

A chill ran through Harry's body. "Lucius Malfoy," Harry answered. "He was trying to kill me with the Avada Kedavra curse. He hit Professor Snape instead!"

Hermione covered her mouth. "No! Not Professor Snape!"

She tried to get past Hagrid, but he stood up and blocked her. "No! I don' wan'tcha t' be lookin! Ron, Hermione–you two, please! Run back up t' the castle. Ge' Dumbledore down 'ere right now! We need 'im!"

Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she grabbed Ron's hand. She unceremoniously dragged Ron after her until he turned. They bolted up the hill together toward the castle.

Hagrid slipped his massive arms beneath the Professor, lifting Snape from the ground. "Let's get 'im inside, 'arry. Ge' the gate for me."

Harry ran ahead and shoved the heavy gate open, then bolted up the stairs to hold the back door to Hagrid's cabin. Hagrid edged in sideways, being careful not to bump his burden against the frame.

Dead, drying animals hung in the rafters of Hagrid's hut. They cast wild shadows around the room. Fang, Hagrid's great boarhound, lifted his head and twitched his nostrils. The dog's wet nose and black eyes gleamed in the wash of light from the fireplace.

Hagrid wended his way through the clutter and settled Snape on the bedspread.

Harry latched the door and leaned weakly against it.

Hagrid pulled a chair over to the bed. He smoothed his beard and looked at the ceiling. "Alright. Okay." He smoothed his beard again, half stood, sat, then said, "Er. Okay. Could ya bring my umbrella, 'arry?"

Harry looked down. The bright pink umbrella stood in a stand by his knee. Harry took the umbrella to the foot of the bed. Harry steeled himself to look down at Snape.

His professor looked terrible. The blood from Snape's hand was smeared down his arm, and the wetted dirt from the corral had turned to mud, caking his side and hair. Little cuts and large welts showed in sharp relief, offset by the black swelling along his cheekbone and jaw. Even his clothes were full of tears, heralding hexes all over his body.

Harry handed Hagrid the umbrella and turned away.

Hagrid took the umbrella with a muttered, "Thanks, 'arry," and pointed the tip at Snape. The mud turned into dry dirt. Hagrid shrugged and brushed some of it off onto the quilt. "Right. Well, tha's a fair amount o' hexes the professor's got there, 'arry. Where were the two of ya?"

Harry swallowed a couple of times, and finally managed, "Nowhere pleasant."

The flickering firelight played over the hut's odd interior. Fang moaned and put his head on his paws. Harry away from the dog.

"I can't believe it," Harry choked in desolation. "Professor Snape saved my life!" He looked to Hagrid. "How can he be dead?" Hagrid's brows drew together; his mouth opened.

"I'm not." Snape's voice replied in a low growl.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Bloody Noses**

Hagrid's gaze immediately left Harry. He smiled brightly. "Ta, Professor! Alrigh' there?"

Snape gave a curt, nearly imperceptible nod. Harry jumped forward, completely stunned. He felt an odd flutter of jealousy. "Professor!"

Snape waved a hand and closed his eyes. Harry pulled back. He looked up at Hagrid. "Professor Moody says no one's ever survived the Avada Kedavra curse. Except me." Harry looked down at Snape. "And now you."

Snape didn't respond. A trickle of blood began to run from Snape's nose. Hagrid quickly turned Snape's head so the blood ran into his hand. "Quick, 'arry, grab me handkerchief. I's in me pocket."

Harry hastily searched through Hagrid's oversized coat pockets. How had Snape done it? How had he survived the Avada curse? As he searched, Harry thought, _Did _I_ somehow protect him when I pulled Snape with me?_

Harry pulled a large polka dotted square of cloth out of Hagrid's pocket. Hagrid whisked it from Harry's hand, to ball it against Severus' face. He slipped his hand under Snape's back and leaned him against his shoulder. "'ere. 'elp me sit 'im up 'arry," he said. "Don' wan 'im to drown."

Harry plumped the pillows against the headboard and Hagrid laid Severus back.

"Ta, Professor," Hagrid remarked as he mopped up more blood, "You really got yourself in ta sommat this time, din you?"

After a moment Harry asked Hagrid, "Is he going to be okay?"

"Well can' rightly say, can I?" Hagrid answered. "'e seems in a bad enough way, but...I don' know. Don' reckon i' couldn'a been Avada Kedavra, though."

Harry frowned angrily. "I was there, Hagrid! I heard Malfoy say it!"

Hagrid was surprised by the hostility in Harry's voice. "'twern't contradictin' ya, 'arry. But, Snape's alive, right? That don' happen with the Avada." Harry gave Hagrid a pointed stare, and Hagrid rubbed his ear. "Er, well, when Dumbledore gets 'ere..."

Abruptly, Snape opened his eyes and sat up. He began to cough rather hard.

Hagrid reached to pound his back, but Harry caught Hagrid's hand--he'd been at the receiving end of a slap from Hagrid before. "Not the best idea Hagrid. You hit kind of hard."

Hagrid smiled wryly. "Ah! S'pose yer right." He gently patted Snape's back as the coughing fit came to an end. Snape pressed his face weakly to his knees; his overlarge nose had began to bleed again.

"Alrigh' then, Professor?" Snape nodded slightly without looking up. Hagrid offered his handkerchief as he pressed, "'ow'r ya feelin'?"

Snape pressed his wrapped hand against his nose. "Messy." His voice was stuffy and he swallowed hard. Snape balled up his fist and dropped back to the pillow, draping his arm over his face. He caught a sharp breath. "The bloody nose is really not the worst of it," he stated rather blandly.

"Right, Professor. I'll just..." Hagrid reached out to take Snape's bandaged hand, but he let go in surprise. Snape had resisted Hagrid's grip; Snape's arm remained firmly wedged over his face.

"I assume the Headmaster is coming?" Snape asked, his voice cold.

"Well, yes," Hagrid answered. "But..."

"I prefer to wait for him," Snape said tightly.

Hagrid looked askance at Harry, who shrugged. Hagrid stood up. "Maybe you'd like if I mixed up sommat for ya, Professor? Might help til Dumbledore shows."

Snape's muffled voice replied, "Please do."

Hagrid nodded to Harry and whispered, "See wot you can do, okay 'arry?" Hagrid disappeared into the kitchen.

Harry watched Hagrid leave. Snape hadn't been too receptive when he'd tried to lift the hexes in the graveyard. But it was probably worth another try. Harry sighed and took out his wand.

Snape put his arm down. His eyebrows arched. "What are you doing, Potter?"

Harry flinched. "Um, Professor, I was just going to... get rid of the hexes."

Snape snarled. "Go to the castle, Potter. I do not want your help. Your muck up is the reason I'm here at all." He turned away from Harry. "Keep that wand away from me."

Without thinking Harry dropped his wand on the bed and pulled Snape around.

Harry snapped, "I can help you!"

Snape's face was suddenly livid. "No you can't!" he snapped. "I don't want you here!" Snape leaned back and yelled, "Hagrid! Get this boy out of here!"

Hagrid's bearded face appeared at the door. "Wha's goin' on out here?" he demanded.

"Help!" Harry mouthed. He was smoothly overridden by Snape pointing, "Get him out of here! And where the blazes is Dumbledore! He's taking too long!"

Hagrid wavered beneath Snape's glare. "Ah don' know. Ron 'n 'ermione wen' lookin' for 'im."

"There's your answer, then," Snape snarled. "They haven't found him yet. You get him!"

Snape's ire weighed on Hagrid. The gamekeeper's brows drew together. "Alrigh'," Hagrid replied. "I'll try. Sure 'e 'eaded this way, anyway." Hagrid turned to duck out, but Snape wasn't finished.

"Take Potter with you!" Snape gave Harry a glare of pure loathing.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Harry snapped back. He looked up. "Hagrid, please, try to find them! I'm staying with Snape!"

Hagrid's eyes went wide and hurried away. Harry heard the door slam.

Harry turned angrily to Snape. "How dare you treat Hagrid that way!"

Snape's lips twisted. "What business is it of yours?"

Harry's jaw snapped shut. He fumed a moment before retorting, "Hagrid's my friend; he's trying to help you. I won't let you order him around like an animal!"

"I wasn't!" Snape spat. "Professor Hagrid can't help. Only Dumbledore can. I need him right now!" Snape wiped a black-sleeved arm across his face. "Go away, Potter! Having you here is worse than having you in Potions class."

Harry was suddenly struck by Snape's condition; Severus was shaking. "You're trying to get rid of me!" Harry exclaimed.

Snape's brows drew together spitefully. "I'm astounded at your insight, Potter."

Snape closed his eyes and turned away.

Harry sat back and regarded Snape. His mind was racing. "Sir? How did you know Voldemort kidnaped me tonight?"

Snape stabbed Harry with an ugly glare and interjected, "How many times have I told you not to say the Dark Lord's name!"

Harry plowed on. "You knew he would try to kill you, didn't you? But you came anyway. Why? Was it that prophesy?"

"Shut up!" Snape balled his hand around the black bandage. "You have no idea what you're talking about and you have no right to be here."

"Come on!" Harry thumped the bed with his fist. "You just saved my life! I need to know how you did it--why weren't you killed by Malfoy's Avada? How many other Death Eaters do it? Can _Voldemort_?"

Snape's eyes flew wide. "Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" Snape grabbed Harry's shirt front. "You will call him to you in your stupidity!"

"_Tell me_!" Harry pulled at Snape's grip.

Snape released Harry. His lips pulled tight. "Very well. Only Bella," Snape hissed. "And the Dark Lord...He took the soul barrier from her." Snape looked away.

Harry's eyes darted over Snape. "How do you know?" Harry demanded.

"I saw it." Snape's eyes snapped to Harry's. "I discovered the Dark Magic that makes a killer invulnerable! I was party to the Dark Lord when he commanded me to kill James Potter and take his soul barrier." Snape advanced on Harry. Harry retreated in horror. "Yes, I went! But in the end, I failed and the Dark Lord chose Bella instead!" Snape ran his bloody hand over his bruised face and looked away. "Reason enough for what I did." A haunted look came into Snape's eyes.

Harry caught Snape's gaze. "What did you do?" Harry asked.

Snape's mouth twisted. "It might interest you to know that I killed my father to be able to withstand the killing curse. What do you think of that, Potter?" His voice was most bitter and challenging.

Harry couldn't hold Snape's gaze. He dropped his eyes and replied, "I don't know."

Snape snorted and shook his head. He looked resentful. "Of course not."

Abruptly, Harry flamed, "Why? Murder worth it, so you can withstand a curse?"

"No! It is not!" Snape barked.

"You must have thought so when you were a Death Eater!" Harry accused.

Snape suddenly snarled, "Don't you dare judge me, Potter. You have no idea how much they hated me! My father cursed me from the day I was born! There was only one person who ever cared! When your father..." Suddenly Snape's face contorted in the most ugly manner. He advanced on Harry, menace in his every move. "Ever been beaten black, Potter? Locked in a closet for days on end? No food, no water? Been hated just for being who you are, by everyone who ever knew you?"

Harry looked very seriously into Snape's eyes. "Yes."

"No!" Snape growled bitterly, "Your friends. Always, somebody there, looking out for you, taking your part!" He set his jaw. "I have only been used. Even Dumbledore. I know." A thin line appeared between his eyes. "Potter. Everything about you reminds me..."

"Of what?" Harry asked very quickly as he leaned forward. He was astonished at what Snape was revealing and didn't want him to stop.

Snape suddenly flung up his arm and shoved Harry back.

Harry saw Snape grope in the bedclothes. Snape pulled up his hand; he was holding Harry's wand. Misery deformed Snape's features as he screamed, "Get out, Potter! Get out before I..." Snape flicked back the wand.

Suddenly a jet of light rushed across the room and crashed into Snape. He fell forward, motionless on the quilt. Harry stared over him.

At the kitchen door, Dumbledore stared at the scene with wide eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: A Curfew Late**

"Harry!" Dumbledore asked with concern. "Are you alright?"

Harry nodded. "I'm okay, Sir."

"You're not hurt?"

Harry shook his head.

Dumbledore strode to the bed. Hermione and Ron trailed in behind Hagrid. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, stopped at Snape's side. He picked up Harry's wand and deftly handed it back. "Welcome home, Harry," he said, still watching Snape.

"Thank you, Sir," Harry replied.

Dumbledore's glittering gaze wondered over Snape. "Severus?" Dumbledore asked softly. He turned the insensate professor onto his back. "Do you hear me? It's Albus. Severus?" Snape remained still. Dumbledore followed the welts down Snape's neck and gently ran his hand over the absent Dark Mark. "Ah, my poor boy..."

Dumbledore carefully began to unwrap Snape's hand. Snape moaned and turned his head, catching the firelight.

Hermione caught a sobbing breath. "Oh! How horrible! Professor Dumbledore..."

Dumbledore looked up at once over the rim of his spectacles. His eyes raked over the tears on Hermione's face, the expression of dread on Ron's. "Ah, yes," he said, his voice fatherly and very kind. "Mr. Weasley. Miss Granger. I see two students here who will shortly exceed their curfew, if they don't return to their dorms at once."

Ron gaped at him, but Hermione immediately protested, "Professor Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Ah! No, no, Miss Granger. Listen to me. Your evening has been quite strenuous. But Harry is back unharmed. And, while I understand your concern for Professor Snape," he glanced at Severus, "he was only doing his duty to me and to the Order. There really is nothing here for you to do. So. I want you to go back to your rooms."

"But Professor...!"

Dumbledore looked to Hagrid. "Take them up, won't you, Hagrid? Let Minerva know that Harry is safe; I will bring him up later. No questions. I'll meet her in the morning. But for now she can at least try to get some sleep."

Hagrid gave the Headmaster a most doubtful look; but when Dumbledore nodded, he went to open the door. Hagrid waved his arm at Ron and Hermione. "Come on, you lot."

Hermione held her ground. "But... Professor Snape... and... we haven't had a chance to talk to Harry yet!"

She looked to Harry imploringly, but he suddenly had a great desire to be alone with Dumbledore.

"It's okay, Hermione. I'm alright. Really, I am," Harry answered rather grimly.

"There. You see?" Dumbledore put in with a gentle smile. "I'll send Harry along to bed in a while. You can talk to him then."

Hermione wavered. She looked back at Snape.

"Professor Snape is... going... to... be... fine." Dumbledore stressed each word gently. "Go on."

"All right." Hermione turned with a dispirited, "Are you coming, Ron?" and went to the door.

Ron stared at Snape. His eyebrows climbed to meet his hair, and Ron shook his head at Harry. "I'm gonna wait up for you, 'kay, Harry?"

"Sure, Ron," Harry nodded. "'Night."

"'Night." Ron stumbled backwards to the door, nearly tripping over Fang as the dog brushed past. Harry heard Ron's breathless gasp to Hermione: "Did you see...?" before Hagrid closed the door with a snap.

* * *

Dumbledore waited for them to leave, then touched his wand to Snape's torn black coat. It twitched eerily and the seams separated. The coat slipped free from Snape's unconscious form and flew to a nearby chair. The ripped sleeve followed after. Black threads whipped themselves together. Mud and blood stains vanished, and the clean, finished coat flipped in half, draping itself neatly over the chair back.

Dumbledore carefully turned Snape's mangled arm up on the quilt and opened Snape's ripped, stained undershirt.

Harry caught his breath. Snape's skin was covered in bruises and hexes to match those on his face. Harry knew they had to be excruciatingly painful.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry gasped, "Please! This is my fault--I was the one who followed Pettigrew. That Avada Kedavra curse was meant for me!"

Dumbledore shook his head at Harry. "Not now, Harry. Please. Let me work." Dumbledore drew his wand over the hole in Snape's hand and the edges drew taut, shoring up the bones and leaving deep, ragged scars on either side. He placed the wand tip to Snape's bare skin. "_Finite incantatum_," he whispered.

Snape's muscles contracted in discomfort, but the welts on his skin immediately began to fade, sinking into red lines. Cuts stitched themselves together. Magical bruises disappeared.

But the dirty, exposed meat on Professor Snape's forearm, instead of healing, took on a sickly shine. Blood filled the cavity and drooled around Snape's arm.

Dumbledore stared at the red stain spreading across the quilt. A moment later Dumbledore put his wand to the wound and repeated a spell nearly identical to that which Wormtail had used. Dumbledore sighed. The bleeding ceased, but Dumbledore's eyes misted over.

"It's not the Avada that's killing him, Harry," Dumbledore said. He rested Snape's arm on his knee and gently stroked the professor's fingers.

"Killing him! But you just... His arm!" Harry looked up sharply. "And you told Hermione...!"

"Oh, I know." Dumbledore moved the message down Snape's arm. It was one of the first times Harry had actually seen Dumbledore look dismayed.

"You mean it was all a front?" Harry gasped.

Dumbledore's brows tipped up as he looked at Harry. "Voldemort put a very powerful hex in the Dark Mark, Harry. It was never meant to be removed. All I've done is stop him bleeding." Dumbledore was silent a while, as he considered the gaping hole in Snape's arm. Finally, Dumbledore sat back. "This hex cannot be stopped by any magic of mine."

"Then what?" Harry asked him.

Dumbledore laid Snape's arm back on the quilt. He got up and paced the room. "I will have to use Dark Magic."

Harry stared uncomfortably at Dumbledore. "Dark Magic? Why Dark Magic?"

Dumbledore's gaze probed Harry for a moment. "It's the only spell I know that will cure the hex. Poor Severus. All these years he's lived knowing that removing the Dark Mark would mean death for him. He was certain the Death Eaters would remove it if they ever caught him. But Voldemort does not part with his followers so easily. He gave them a way out." Dumbledore slid his hand over his mouth. "I forced him to tell me."

Dumbledore carefully touched Snape's arm. "I will do what I have to, to save Professor Snape's life. Harry, perhaps it is best you go now."

Dumbledore crossed the room and went out into the yard. Harry looked down at his unconscious professor, then rushed after Dumbledore.

Harry stopped on the step. "Wait! Professor?" He called. A blue light hovering in the darkness swung toward him. It was Dumbledore's wand, illuminated so he could see. Harry ran toward the light and caught up with Dumbledore as the Headmaster circled the far side of the corral.

"Sir, isn't there something I can do to help?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry, I hesitate to involve you. You are always so eager to believe the worst of him!" Harry threw back his head. "This...won't help."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore bobbed his head, considering. "The Dark Mark dredges up horrors of the past...aligns your desires..." Dumbledore trailed off. "You may not want to know."

"Why _not_?" Harry demanded impatiently. Dumbledore's eye glinted.

The light from the Headmaster's wand washed over Harry's face. He gave Harry a half smile. "You do so look like your father, Harry."

Harry shrugged, "Does it matter?"

Dumbledore tuned away. "It matters to Professor Snape. Harry, he does not find it easy to be around you."

Harry looked back at the cabin. "I don't find it easy to be around him. I always wonder. Especially after tonight..."

Dumbledore stopped walking. "Because he attacked you?"

Harry frowned. "No." It was hard for him to say it. "Something happened in the graveyard. He made me really afraid." Harry chewed the inside of his cheek, but Dumbledore already seemed to know.

"Ah! Professor Trelawney's prophesy that Severus would go back to the Dark Lord! Heard it, did you?"

"Yes!" Harry was shocked. "How do you know?"

Dumbledore seemed slightly amused. "Professor Snape came to me with it almost immediately after Sybil accosted him in the hall." Dumbledore sobered. He opened the door to the animal shed. "Severus was quite distressed by it."

Harry couldn't believe Dumbledore. He retorted, "You knew that Snape was going to help Voldemort kill me tonight?"

Dumbledore flicked his wand around. "Harry you of all people should know that it is not the prophesy that matters, but what you do with it."

Harry shook his head. "I don't see how it could mean anything other than Snape is going to go back to the Death Eaters!"

Dumbledore pulled the shed door shut abruptly and turned on Harry. "Harry, I saw that prophesy. But here you are, safe tonight. You're not dead! And Severus is not with Voldemort. He is here, suffering for you!" Harry backed off, but Dumbledore's frustration was clear. "You must give up this fantasy that Professor Snape is a Death Eater, Harry!"

Harry tried. He finally shook his head. "I can't trust him, Sir!"

Dumbledore looked aggrieved. "Then we may all suffer for it."

Harry cringed. Dumbledore was right. Snape was right now on the verge of death because Harry had led him to the Death Eaters. "Sir, perhaps if you explained why you trust him?"

"Is this not enough?" Dumbledore's eyes were troubled.

Harry shook his head, and Dumbledore sighed. "All I can tell you is I understand Professor Snape's reasons. I don't know if I can condone what he did, but I understand." Dumbledore pursed his lips and went to the rabbit hutch. He put his hand on the latch.

Dumbledore looked back, his eyes narrow. "Would it help Harry, if I told you I knew what terrible deeds Severus did before he came to me?" Harry felt a chill run down his back. Harry shook his head. Dumbledore frowned. "Perhaps knowing what drove him away is the only thing that will make you believe me?"

Harry came up beside Dumbledore. "It might help, Sir. I want to know."

Dumbledore opened the hutch. "No. I won't betray his confidence." Dumbledore reached in and chose a grey rabbit. "But try to understand Harry. One of the things that makes a Death Eater a Death Eater is cruel disregard for life." Dumbledore lifted out the rabbit. "Professor Snape...has... regard for life."

"No, he doesn't!" Harry blurted. "He murdered his father!"

Dumbledore's eyes riveted to Harry's. "He told you that?"

Harry squared his shoulders. "Yes."

Dumbledore's eyes bored into Harry's. "Did he also tell you why?"

Harry looked away, uneasy.

"No, he would not," Dumbledore closed the hutch. He held the rabbit to his chest and stroked it. "Dark Magic is a terrible thing, Harry. It leaves an indelible mark. Professor Snape has come to appreciate that, in his way. This Dark Magic, this spell, if he were to use it himself, would drive him back, force him to rejoin Voldemort."

Harry felt anger swell in his chest. "Why should I care?"

Dumbledore strode past Harry, taking the rabbit with him. "Because I will perform the spell for him."

Harry grabbed Dumbledore's arm. "No! If Snape could be driven to Voldemort, why couldn't you be too?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry's hand on his arm. "It's a possibility." Dumbledore stared into Harry's eyes. "I can't pretend that I am not ambivalent about this, Harry. In fact, I'm very afraid. I don't know if I can withstand this spell. I am getting quite old."

Dumbledore sighed. "And it goes against my nature, so far against my nature, Harry, to use Dark Magic." Dumbledore turned away. "But we cannot afford to lose Professor Snape to Voldemort."

"You mean you'd sacrifice yourself for him!" Harry felt hot tears in his eyes.

Dumbledore hefted the rabbit slightly. "Perhaps, but I do not mean to do so." His eyes roved over the rabbit's slopping face. "It would be easier, Harry, if you gave me your support."

"No." Harry countered.

Dumbledore put the rabbit under his arm. "Harry, please. I need you to be there. I need you to care for me. I need you to care for Severus."

Harry shook his head mulishly. "I don't care for Snape."

Dumbledore suddenly laughed. "Not a bit! You brought him back with you through that gravestone. Only your deepest desire to save him could have done that. Would you really let him go back to Voldemort? Or see him die?"

Harry shook his head. "Of course not! But he..." Harry suddenly stopped. He turned toward the cabin and thought of Snape sleeping inside. "If Snape does this spell tonight, he could go back to Voldemort! Could that be the prophesy?"

Dumbledore's lip pulled. "Do you care enough to risk keeping him here?"

"Yes!" Harry answered.

Dumbledore smiled. "Then...I'm glad you care Harry. Because if I am to do Dark Magic, I will need you to care deeply!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Dumbledore's Dark Magic**

Harry didn't understand the Dark spell. More to the point, he didn't want to.

Dumbledore changed, right before his eyes, losing more and more of himself as he used his wand to burn the Dark Mark into a piece of planking Harry had brought from the yard. Dumbledore turned to the rabbit, tracing the Mark over it. He recited an incantation and stood up.

"Take it into the house," he commanded Harry, pointing at the spelled board. Dumbledore casually bundled the jerking, squalling rabbit under his arm and walked away.

Harry grabbed the board and scrambled up the steps. He didn't like the spell one bit, but Dumbledore had made Harry promise to see it though to the end. Just as Harry considered running though, he felt Dumbledore's hand at his neck. The Headmaster maneuvered him into the fire lit room, directing Harry to put the spelled board on the bedside table.

Harry drew the chair aside and put the board down. Dumbledore went straight to Snape. He put his wand to Snape's forehead. "_Ennervate_!" he intoned.

Snape inhaled sharply. He tried to twist away, but Dumbledore grabbed Snape's shoulder. "Severus, be still!"

Snape bit his lip. His face was gray. "Headmaster! My arm... The Dark Mark..."

"Yes, I know." Dumbledore's voice held not a drop of comfort. His compassion for Snape had completely disappeared.

Snape tried to sit up. "Headmaster. I decided..."

Dumbledore held the rabbit by the scruff of its neck over the board. The rabbit froze, petrified by the spell. Snape's eyes lit with horror. "No!" He shook his head in alarm. "I won't let you!" Snape reached for his wand, but he was unarmed. Snape turned frantically, searching Harry's face for assistance. "Potter! You have to get Dumbledore out of here! Don't let this happen!"

Dumbledore shoved Snape down. His voice grew darker, colder. "Harry will let this happen, Severus. In fact, he came to help me. Does that trouble you?"

Snape tried to draw himself away from Dumbledore. "Potter! Don't you understand? This spell will let the Dark Lord control Dumbledore! You've got to stop it!"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry understands. Fortunately, he agrees I should not let Voldemort have back his most prized disciple."

Snape's eyes went wide. "I'll stop you!" he panted. Snape made a grab for Dumbledore's wand, but Dumbledore was faster.

He pointed his wand at Snape. "_Stupify_!" he intoned.

Snape rocked back, and Dumbledore grabbed Snape's arm, forcing it into the air. "So, Lord Voldemort has removed his Dark Mark. We will simply replace it with another!" He jammed his wand against Snape's forearm and smiled. "_Finite incantatum_!"

Blood immediately surged from the wound. It coursed down Snape's arm and splattered the floor. Dumbledore drew the bleeding gash over the rabbit. Almost gleefully, the Headmaster transfigured his wand into a knife. He plunged it into the rabbit's back, and the rabbit's blood ran with Snape's.

Snape tried to push Dumbledore away, but he was pale. "Harry!" Snape begged. "Please! Stop him!"

Harry fully agreed. Even if it meant Snape would go back to Voldemort, Harry wasn't prepared to let Dumbledore go. He jumped at the Headmaster, but Dumbledore lifted his wand into the air. Snape's coat whipped up from the chair and wrapped itself tightly around Harry, stopping him in his tracks.

Snape lunged again. The Headmaster was on him in a moment, forcing Snape deep into the mattress. The blanket moved around Snape, twining around his neck and legs.

Dumbledore swept his wand through the gory mess bleeding out of the rabbit. A silvery shape took form. Dumbledore siphoned it up and turned back to Severus. Snape struggled vainly, chewing in utter terror at the blanket gagging him. The wand came down again, against Snape's arm. The silvery mass leapt from the wand, burrowing into red muscle, burning and searing. The shape of the Dark Mark bubbled to the surface, frothing the blood of the wounds of both Snape and the rabbit.

Snape's nails raked the quilt. His muffled screams cut through Harry's nerves. Snape finally managed to pull the blanket from his mouth. He shouted quite clearly, "Headmaster! Don't let the Dark Lord control you!"

Dumbledore laughed. In his hand, he held a fileted patch of skin from the rabbit. Dumbledore ground the piece of hide against Severus' wound with his wand. "Severus! By the time we are done, I may control the Dark Lord!"

Snape left off clawing at the bedspread and scratched at Dumbledore's thigh. The Headmaster's knee pressed Snape's chest; Severus' breathing became ragged. Dumbledore used his wand to burn another sign into the board around the rabbit. The rabbit kicked out.

Snape's arm blackened with the shape of the Dark Mark.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry shouted. "What are you doing? Stop it! You're putting the Mark back on him!"

Dumbledore turned and laughed. "Of course I am! The Dark Mark will always be there! A reminder for all time of the evil things he's done! Even to you, Harry Potter! He deserves this pain, for going to your father's house!"

Harry struggled with the coat. There was a tickling in his scar; he tried to block it out. "My father's house? What do you mean?"

Dumbledore pressed his wand to Snape's head. He slid off the bed, still holding Snape's arm.

Snape didn't struggle. The potion master's eyes were blank. Dumbledore looked down at him. "Tell the dear boy, Severus, why he suffers the Dark Lord's humors."

Dumbledore put his wand to Snape's throat. A Dark spell wrapped itself around Snape's neck. He spoke. "A piece of Voldemort's soul is trapped in the scar. It is there because of me."

Dumbledore laughed. "Tell him more."

Snape's flat voice continued, "The Dark Lord learned where the child lived. The one who had the power to vanquish him."

Dumbledore shook Snape's arm, scattering drops of blood which ran from the Dark Mark. The Dark spell on Snape's throat tightened, making his face red. "He knew," Dumbledore said, "so you knew. You followed. But the child had no great power of his own to destroy the Dark Lord, did he?"

"No."

Harry was shocked into stillness.

Snape's mouth worked, his voice became gravelly. "His mother made a soul barrier...against which the Dark Lord's Avada rebounded...but the Dark Lord had a barrier of his own. He reformed." Snape twitched in pain. "I could not let him revive. Revenge is all I want! I will see him dead!"

Snape began to struggle in earnest against the Dark spell. Dumbledore watched him claw at his neck and laughed. "And in your rage, you blew the house apart! What a favor you gave to Harry in your hatred!"

Harry jerked against the coat. His scar blazed in pain. "You told me Voldemort gave me my scar!"

"So he did!" Dumbledore crowed. "But Snape's Avada Kedavra blasted off that piece of soul which ties you to the Dark Lord!"

The passion for Dark Magic became a fever burning in Dumbledore's eyes. He seemed to enjoy inflicting pain on Severus and on Harry. Snape threw himself back, howling in agony. The rabbit pummeled itself against the board. Dumbledore drew the Dark Mark a final time. He was near completing the spell.

Harry's scar felt odd; a great joy had seized him. Harry realized Dumbledore was giving in to Voldemort. His nature was nearly aligned with the Dark Lord!

Harry became desperate. It didn't matter to him what Snape had done--Harry just wanted the screaming to stop. He wanted to put an end to the pain in his scar and Dumbledore's excitement over the exposure of Snape's infamy. Harry wanted it all to stop!

Harry leapt forward, bowling himself bodily into Dumbledore. Dumbledore staggered against the table, and Harry was able to rip off the coat. He threw his arms around Snape, pulling him away. "Dumbledore! Stop it!" Harry yelled into Snape's shoulder, his eyes screwed shut. "Professor Snape is right! I won't let you use Dark Magic! I'm going to stop you now!"

Without plan, without voicing a spell, Harry felt all his devotion for Dumbledore, his fear for Snape, his revulsion of Dark Magic flash out from him. A staggering Magic erupted into the room. The air crackled and Dumbledore was blasted to the floor.

Suddenly, Harry's scar stopped hurting. In his arms, Snape stopped screaming. Harry let Snape sag back to the mattress.

Harry immediately drew his wand. In the sudden stillness, Dumbledore pushed himself up against the far wall. Harry brandished his wand, but the Headmaster was not attacking. Instead a smile of amazement spread across his features. Spectacles askew, he burst out laughing. "Harry, you are a miracle!" he exclaimed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Revelations**

Harry slid his legs off the bed. Holding up his wand, he approached Dumbledore warily. "Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes!" Dumbledore's eyes glittered. "I knew you could do it!"

"Do what?" Harry asked cautiously. "What did I do?"

"What did you do!" Dumbledore's gaze became brighter. He was practically beaming with excitement. Dumbledore jumped to his feet and laughed. "Harry! You used Old Magic!"

Harry lowered his wand. Wonder and pride lifted his spirit. "Old Magic? Like my mother?"

"Yes!" Dumbledore grabbed Harry's shoulders and shook him. Dumbledore's face glowed in the firelight. "I knew you could! When you told me you'd brought Severus back with you through the tombstone!" Dumbledore broke off and twirled around. "Haha! You used Old Magic! Better than I could've hoped for!"

Harry stared at him. "Better than...?" Harry felt his pride turn into furious consternation.

Dumbledore stopped and speared Harry with an intense gaze. "Harry! You're amazing! Don't you see? You've given me back myself! You've removed all traces of the Dark Magic from me being by using Old Magic!"

A loud clatter caused them to jump.

The grey rabbit had unbalanced the spell board, dumping it to the ground. Swiftly Dumbledore crossed to pick up the rabbit. It was unhurt. The wounds on its back were scabbed over and fur was already beginning to grow. Dumbledore's elbow bumped the bed. He stood and turned sharply.

Dumbledore's wide smile became excited. "Harry!" he called. Dumbledore reached out to Severus. Dumbledore's smile vanished. A moment later, he dropped the rabbit and put an ear to Snape's chest.

Harry crossed to them. Snape was unconscious, pale from the bloodletting, but Dumbledore sighed with relief. He nodded at Harry. "Severus is alive," he said simply. Dumbledore moved Snape into a more comfortable position and pulled at the disarranged covers.

Harry dropped the grey rabbit to the floor, where it hid under the bedframe. He too leaned over Snape.

"Professor, look!" Harry indicated Snape's arm. Dumbledore turned up the Dark Mark, visible on Snape's forearm. It no longer resembled a black tattoo. It had transformed into a network of raised white scars.

Harry stared. "What's happened to it?"

Dumbledore ran his hand over the Mark. "You've changed it! Your Old Magic. I think..." Dumbledore pressed his wand against Snape's skin. "Hah! The hex is gone!"

Harry inhaled. "I made the hex disappear? He's gonna be okay?"

"Yes." Dumbledore squeezed Severus' hand tight between his own. He looked up at Harry. A worried look crossed Dumbledore's face. "He'll never feel Voldemort's call again."

Harry felt an odd elation. "Then Professor Snape won't have to worry about Voldemort anymore!"

Dumbledore let out a pained little laugh. "Quite the opposite. I doubt he'll thank you."

Harry frowned against a nudge of resentment. "What do you mean? If Snape's quit of Voldemort, seems to me he'd be glad it's gone."

Dumbledore looked at Harry over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "Professor Snape, Harry." Dumbledore tipped his wand over Snape's white shirt. "_Scourgify._" The stains and tears disappeared, along with the blood on the quilt and floor. Dumbledore rolled up Snape's nicely starched sleeve, exposing the Dark Mark once again. "Harry, Severus... had... a rather special connection to Lord Voldemort through the Dark Mark. Perhaps not quite one of a kind," he glanced at Harry's scar, "but useful, none the less."

Harry checked himself as he reached for his scar. "What kind of connection?"

"Severus had a piece of Voldemort's soul also."

Harry chewed his lip. "How?" Harry finally demanded.

Dumbledore looked at Snape. "Severus does not want me to tell you. He believes that telling you will not help. But I think it is time you know. Years ago, while still a Death Eater, Severus discovered that the Avada Kedavra kills by splintering a person's soul. He came to believe that if a piece of that soul could be captured, it might form a barrier, a sort of immunity against the Avada."

"I know," Harry said. "Professor Snape told me. He'd failed the Dark Lord."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "You know Voldemort ordered Severus to test the making of a soul barrier?" Harry nodded. Dumbledore was surprised. Finally, he said, "Only, Voldemort never shares more than he has to. He wanted to claim the barrier's protection for himself by placing a piece of his soul in Severus' Dark Mark. Then he ordered Severus to kill someone."

Harry's eyes were wide. "My dad."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. Only Severus didn't kill him. He ran away, taking the piece of Voldemort's soul with him. And that has been the Order's saving grace since Voldemort was reborn. Because Severus had a direct connection to Voldemort's plotting. It's how he knew where you were tonight."

Harry rubbed at his scar. "But Voldemort can influence my thoughts," he said, thinking of the terrible events of the past year. "Why doesn't he Snape's?"

"I think," Dumbledore replied, "it may have been the first time Voldemort transferred a piece of his soul to someone else. Bella had a piece also. But not for long. He apparently didn't recognize the contact was there. When Severus... came to me, I taught him to block the visions."

"Occlumency?" Harry whispered.

Dumbledore nodded. "He has been very careful these past years. With the Dark Mark, Severus knew when the Death Eaters were going to met. But with the soul fragment, Severus could tell what Voldemort was actually feeling. I think it must have been terrifying to reach into the mind of Lord Voldemort." Harry looked away. "But he has done it, again and again. Severus will do everything in his power to keep you safe. He guards his own mind, not only for himself, but also for you."

Harry looked down at Snape. "He was tied to Voldemort. The same way I am."

"No," Dumbledore replied. "Remember? Professor Snape let Voldemort put that piece of soul into him. You have yours for another reason. Because your mother loved you."

"Loved me?" Harry's voice began to raise. "It wasn't love that got Voldemort his soul barrier! It wasn't love that Snape killed his father!" Harry ground his teeth. "Do you think it's thanks to love that I'm going to be tied to Voldemort forever? More thanks to Snape's revenge!"

"Harry!" Dumbledore tried to calm him. "You don't know how important it is that Severus did what he did! Without him, you would been killed that night!"

"Killed?" Harry shouted. "Couldn't of! I'm supposed to be the one who vanquishes the Dark Lord! Remember?"

Dumbledore sounded hopeful. "And because of Severus, you can!"

"With a piece of Voldemort's soul stuck in my head?" Harry questioned angrily.

"Yes!" Dumbledore trumpeted. "A soul barrier made from love protects more surely than one taken in fear..."

"Headmaster!" Snape's voice suddenly broke in on Dumbledore. "You have no right!"

Dumbledore jumped. Snape was staring at him with strange intensity.

"Severus! I'm sorry! Harry doesn't know!" Snape glared at Dumbledore, until he relented.

Dumbledore indicated Snape's arm. "How do you feel? Is it right?"

Snape stared at Dumbledore a moment longer, then took a deep breath. Snape lifted his arm. The new scar shone, corded against mottled skin. A puzzled expression crossed Snape's face.

"Yes," he said. Snape dropped his hand back to the bed and swallowed hard. "Thank you, Headmaster," Snape whispered. He screwed his eyes closed. "I don't know what you did, but thank you. Thank you." Snape opened his eyes and looked at Dumbledore. "I'm sorry."

Dumbledore put his hand on the quilt and smiled. "Severus, I promised to help you and I meant it. I won't abandon you to the Dark Lord."

A deep line appeared between Snape's eyes and he looked into the Headmaster's face. "Are you...?"

Dumbledore smiled. "No lasting effects. Thanks to young Harry, here."

"Potter?" Snape's concern for Dumbledore mutated into a rather baleful glare as he turned to Harry. "Thanks to you...? What have you done?" He stared at the Dark Mark. His eyes darted crazily. Suddenly Snape gasped.

"My wand!" He frantically tried to lever himself up.

"Stop it, Severus!" Dumbledore put a hand on Snape's shoulder in alarm. "Lie still!"

"It's gone!" Snape tried to catch his breath. His eyes rolled. Dumbledore caught Snape's shirt, kept him from falling.

"What's wrong with him?" Harry demanded.

"Exhaustion," Dumbledore replied.

Snape fumbled for the Headmaster's robe. He was not going to be put off. "Headmaster, listen..."

Dumbledore caught his hand. "Severus, be calm. I'm here. Tell me what happened."

"Headmaster." Snape wavered again. His head lolled.

"Stay with us, Severus," Dumbledore lightly slapped Snape's cheek. "Come on."

Severus gasped. "My wand. It's in Riddle's graveyard. It's spelled to a tree."

Dumbledore took a deep breath; his eyes grew round. "Alright, Severus. Lay back. I will gather the Order at once; we'll decide how to proceed." Snape reached after Dumbledore but fell back. The Headmaster gave Snape's shoulder a brief squeeze. He stood.

Harry jumped after Dumbledore. "What's going on?"

Dumbledore turned. "We can't let Voldemort have that wand. With it, he could cause far too much damage. He could invade the castle."

"How?" Harry asked.

"Priori incantatum." Snape again struggled to sit up. "That will tell the Dark Lord all he needs to know. Why do think I didn't want to leave it? Forcing me to leave my wand was foolhardy in the extreme, Potter! Headmaster..." Snape quivered as he slid his feet over the edge of the bed.

"That will do, Severus." There was warning in Dumbledore's voice.

Snape barred his teeth, but suddenly Hagrid opened the door. "Ta! How's our professor doin'?" Hagrid looked into the room. Three faces turned sharply toward him. He saw Snape and smiled with delighted surprise. "Yor up!"

Fang ran in, shoving Hagrid aside. The dog galloped to the bed and barked at the rabbit hiding there. "Fang!" Hagrid shouted. "Out! Out, ya ruddy beast!" Instead Fang took a flying leap onto the quilt. Harry grabbed the rabbit from under the bed and held it away from Fang. Snape glared at him.

Dumbledore immediately went to Hagrid. "Professor Hagrid, gather the Order at once. The castle is in danger."

Dumbledore took Hagrid's arm and steered him around. Hagrid followed in surprise. "Wot? Danger? Wot's 'appened w' Professor Snape?" He kept trying to look over his shoulder.

Dumbledore answered, "He'll be fine. But the Order must gather. Voldemort may have Professor Snape's wand!" Hagrid gasped, "Oh!" and looked back.

Snape was laying on the edge of the bed. The dog plodded in a circle and plopped down beside him. "Fang! Ge' off!" Hagrid shouted again.

"I think Professor Snape better sleep here tonight," Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah, o' course," Hagrid replied.

"Good," Dumbledore sighed. "I will be at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place shortly. I'll need them there." Dumbledore lightly slapped Hagrid's arm.

"Is 'arry comin'?" Hagrid asked.

"No," Dumbledore replied. "He's had quite enough excitement for one night."

Hagrid nodded. "Just le' me get tha' bloody dog." He went into the room and grabbed Fang's collar. Snape opened his eyes. "You can leave him," Snape said quietly.

Hagrid was surprised. "'e's not 'urting you, is 'e?"

Snape shook his head and closed his eyes again. Hagrid shrugged and looked up at Harry. "'arry, what 'r ya doin' with ma rabbit?"

"Don't worry about it," Harry stalled. He held the rabbit a bit tighter. "It's just fine."

Hagrid turned to leave, but Harry stopped him. "Hagrid, don't let Lupin go to Riddle's tonight. I think he's in danger."

Hagrid nodded and left. A minute later Harry heard Hagrid's flying motorcycle rev up and take off into the night sky.

Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Harry, I want you to go back to your dorm. The Order will sort this out. But, could I ask you not to talk about this with your friends? I know you will want to, but I hate doing such things. So cruel, so unkind... "

Harry nodded easily. "Of course, Professor. I promise!"

Dumbledore took the rabbit from Harry. He smiled very brightly. "And there is an alternative! Old magic to counter dark magic. Harry, you are a marvel!"

Dumbledore handed the rabbit back, but Harry wasn't thinking of Old Magic or Dark Magic. He was thinking of Snape, who was so tired he still lay on the edge of the bed. "Sir, I don't think I should."

Dumbledore knit his brows. "What?"

"Go back to the dorm. I mean, sir, I think I should stay here. In case Professor Snape needs help." Harry looked down, unhopeful, at the rabbit.

Dumbledore smiled most gently. "That's very kind of you, Harry." He looked at Snape. "I'm certain he will be quite well. But, yes. Stay." Dumbledore's smile brightened. He put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm very proud of you. What you did tonight was truly amazing. I'll send someone from the Order back as soon as I can."

Harry watched until Dumbledore apparated on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Fool's Errand**

Harry turned from the window. Snape was sleeping on his stomach. He twitched as he dreamed. Next to Snape, Fang's reflective eyes followed Harry as he crossed the room. Harry was still carrying the grey rabbit. Fang snuffled.

It was so strange. As much as Harry despised Snape, he found it hard to think of Snape as a murderer. Sure, he could be downright nasty, but Snape had killed people. _He killed his own father_, Harry thought, _to be able to withstand the Killing Curse. How many others? _Snape figured out Avada Kedavra splintered the soul. Harry turned to Snape. _How many lives did you destroy to learn that?_

Harry sighed. He always seemed to feel angry at Snape, but as he stared at his professor, he felt pity too. Ugly Snape, the greasy git. If Dumbledore was right, Snape would wake up tomorrow with a new fear: his lost connection to Voldemort. He would be exposed to the Death Eaters. He would be in danger. Harry suddenly wondered if his Old Magic had dispelled Snape's protection from the Avada Kedavra. Harry fervently hoped not.

Harry's thoughts came full circle. What happened to Snape that was so terrible he was willing to kill his own father? Harry remembered Snape's memory in the pensieve, being a child, cowering in a corner. He said his father hated him; he'd been beaten and starved. But Snape had inflicted worse. _As an adult, not as a child_, Harry thought. Sirius said Snape had entered school knowing more hexes and curses than most fifth years. Why would a ten year old know all that? Harry wondered.

An image of Sirius Black filling Snape's mouth with bubbles came to Harry's mind. Sirius had cast real hexes on Snape, with serious intent. He had actually tried to kill Snape with a prank, even if he claimed otherwise. If he had threatened Snape with the Avada...

Harry moaned; he couldn't stand thinking badly of his godfather. He rubbed his head. Sirius would never use an Unforgivable Curse, would he? But others would! _Snape must have felt very threatened_, Harry thought. _But he is so full of himself!_

Harry looked down at the rabbit. It was warm and soft, but he didn't need it anymore. Harry's Old Magic had gotten rid of the traces of the Dark Mark. Harry lit his wand and took the rabbit out to the shed. As Harry locked the rabbit away, he thought how precious his wand was to him. It was the same for any witch or wizard, and Harry remembered Snape's horror at leaving his in the graveyard.

_It was so callous of me to make Snape leave it behind!_ Harry thought. He looked out into the dark. I should be helping find Snape's wand right now. _Not just because it's dangerous if Voldemort has it, but because it's his. Probably his most valuable possession. _Suddenly Harry's eyes grew round. _I know exactly where Snape's wand is! And I didn't tell Dumbledore where to look!_

Harry ran into the kitchen and stopped. He didn't know how to get in touch with Dumbledore or the Order. He would have to wake up Professor Snape. That gave Harry pause. Snape would surely be bitter.

_The Order really doesn't need my help, _Harry thought. _In fact I'd probably just be in the way_.

Harry thumped his thigh with his fist. It didn't matter. There wasn't anything he could do. He would stay here until someone came for him, and let Snape sleep.

A full pitcher sat on the counter. Harry frowned. He was quite thirsty, but the drink wasn't what caught his attention. Hagrid had left his pink umbrella on the counter. Harry sighed. Hopefully Hagrid wouldn't need it tonight. Harry picked up the pitcher, found a pair of glasses and carried them out of the kitchen, to the bedside table.

Harry bent over Snape. Snape's breathing was slow and even; he even had he smallest touch of color.

_He's helped me. More times than just tonight,_ Harry thought. _Every year, he's helped me, but I haven't recognized it. Hermione's right. I haven't done a thing for Snape, except make his life miserable. I wish I could help him now. _

Harry poured himself a glass and took a drink. He sat nursing it as he considered Snape's sleeping figure. Snape wasn't beautiful. It was easy not to like him, simply because he was so ugly. His crooked teeth, his greasy hair.

_I wonder how Snape's life would have been_, Harry mused, _if he'd been handsome? He's intelligent_. If only he were more friendly. Harry was beginning to feel rather drowsy. _He knows the spells that are in his wand._ Harry stared into his glass. _He's worried about them. Priori Incantatum... Priori Incantatum. _

Snape's voice echoed in Harry's mind. Harry saw himself with another wand, spelling his own to tell him how the spell on the gravestone had worked. He went back to the graveyard and found Snape's wand. He met the Order, and Snape had his wand back.

Harry's head snapped up. He'd been daydreaming, but it suddenly came to him. Hagrid's umbrella! Harry shoved the empty glass onto the night stand and rushed to the kitchen. Hagrid's pink umbrella was there for the taking. Harry smiled. The pink umbrella slipped into his hand. He held it up, tip to tip with his own wand. "_Priori incantatum_," he whispered.

The shadow of the portal's spell flowed out of the wand, coupled with the Old Magic that had allowed him to transport Professor Snape back. It took Harry only a moment to pick out what he needed and memorize it.

Harry dropped Hagrid's umbrella back on the counter. He looked in on Snape one last time before he slipped out into the yard. "I swear I'll get it back, Professor," Harry said.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Riddle Revisited**

The night stretched before him. But it wasn't quiet. The wind blew rain from ruffling leaves and branches. Night birds cawed in foul voices. Shadows whipped from his line of sight.

A chilling thought came to Harry. What if the portal was only designed to be used once?

Harry held his wand near the stone and felt the small pull; he quickly withdrew in relief. He wouldn't go back now, but the spell was still working for him. He could leave this way.

Harry held his breath as he turned toward the house, but the lit windows were eerily absent of shadows and movement. He stepped back, feet squishing in the mud, his fingers touching cold stone. Tom Riddle, Sr. marked the darkness for eternity. Harry looked about. The Order of the Phoenix had not arrived. Where were they? What was taking so long?

Harry flashed his wand light over the trees. Where had he been? There. And Snape--that tree opposite. The length of rope still lay where it had fallen. A shadow, which he hoped was the hilt of Snape's wand, drew a dark mark on the tree. Harry trod cautiously through the mulch and shone his wand light upon the bark.

The light revealed not the wand hilt as he had hoped. Instead, there was only a dried wash of blood surrounding a deep hole where the wand had been. The wand itself was gone.

"No," he breathed. That could only mean...

"_EXPELLIARMUS_!"

Harry's wand was jerked from his hand. It arched high into the air and fell into the hand of Bellatrix LaStrange.

She let out an unearthly cackle. "Come looking for something, little Potter? These, maybe?" Bella held up two wands triumphantly. One was his own precious holly, the other Snape's inflexible black. "_Stupify_!" she shouted and Harry was knocked from his feet.

"Harry Potter!" She laughed. "I'm glad you decided to play after all. Thank you for letting me be the one who will escort you back to the Dark Lord!"

Bella picked her way around a puddle toward him. "My timing coming down here was a bit of an accident, you see. After you, hum, left, Lucius got himself in quite a speck of trouble. My Lord Voldemort is not a bit happy that he tried to kill you, not when he so much wishes you alive. Fortunately Lucius only hit Snape. We all had a bit of a lesson from it, though."

Bella pouted and rubbed her arm over the Dark Mark. "But then I thought it was strange, all that to-do between you and dear Professor Snape, just as you were leaving. He seemed so uneager to follow you, where ever it was you went!" Bella crossed the wands behind her back and swayed her hips. "So I strolled down here to see what all the fuss was about. And guess what I found? A souvenir just for me!" She put the black wand to her lips, then slipped it into her robe.

Bella turned her back on Harry and addressed him over her shoulder. "Just as I thought I ought to be leaving, out of nowhere, you appear! Just like that!" She blasted Harry off his feet with his own wand. "Did you come for Sevie's little wandie?" She fluttered her eyelids at him.

Her eyes suddenly opened wide. "But Snape didn't come for it himself, did he?"

Harry shook his head and stared around. Where were the Order? Where was Dumbledore?

Bella put on a very sad face. "Oh, Lucius! I will have to congratulate him after all! A pity Snape couldn't have suffered more before he died!" Bella laughed crazily.

Harry glared at her defiantly. "Professor Snape isn't dead! It'd take more than a killing curse to get rid of him! He's more of a wizard than you'll ever be!" He stopped short. Bella was staring at him, quite open mouthed.

"Not dead? That snake! We all knew he was a traitor, but..." Bella grabbed the front of Harry's robe. "Did he use Dark Magic, as my lord designed? Will he come back to us?"

"No!" Harry shouted. "Voldemort's lost Snape forever!"

"How? How?" She demanded. She shoved her Dark Mark into Harry's face. "These will kill us if they're removed! How did he do it?"

"Friends!" Harry lifted his chin defiantly.

Bella laughed quite histrionically. "Friends? What friends?"

She searched his face. "You? Not Dumbledore? I had the impression you didn't like Severus that much." She flung her hair. "But then again, who does? Not much there worth liking."

Harry wasn't listening. He was staring feverishly at the wand in her hand, trying to think of some way to get it from her. Would Accio work? Bella blasted the ground near his feet. "Don't even think it!" she giggled.

Her voice became unexpectedly sly. She began to pant. "So, Severus' wand has something important in it! So valuable you came yourself to keep it out of my Lord's hands. What great secret does it hold, that it's so valuable to you?" She pulled out Snape's wand and raised Harry's to it. "Shall we find out?"

"No!" Harry lunged at her.

Bella sprawled and the wands bounded from her hand, popping across the uneven landscape.

Harry shoved her again as he lurched after his wand. His fingers closed around the handle--and pain exploded in the back of his head. He fell forward into the mud.

Lucius Malfoy poked at Harry with his silver-tipped cane, then turned to offer his hand to Bellatrix. He pulled her to her feet with a smile. "I may begin to see how Muggles get on so well without magic," he professed. Lucius pulled his gloves on, finger by finger.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: The Riddle Mansion**

A relentless _click, click, click_ merged with the pounding in Harry's head. He forced his eyelids open, but only to confirm what he already knew: he was quite captured. He no longer had his wand, but there was little he could do to get away anyway, magically shackled as he was.

Harry realized he was in the Great Hall of the mansion. There was a large, wooden table near him, and Harry could hear a fire crackling. He felt heat from behind, but the light seemed wrong. Everything was slightly green.

The clicking continued.

_What is that?_ Harry lifted his head and looked around.

Bellatrix sat in a rocker a short distance from him, tapping two sticks together. Beyond her, a great window paned with dusty glass, admitted the light of fading stars.

_It's nearly morning_, Harry thought. _How long have I been unconscious? _He felt shaky. Perhaps he'd been drugged. The clicking floated into his notice again. He strained against the shackles and bit his lip. _Dumbledore, where are you? Why hasn't anyone come for me?_

Bella stopped tapping the two sticks together and began to hum odd, random notes. For the first time Harry took note of her. The sticks were wands: his own and Snape's!

Anger flooded him, and Harry shouted, "Get your hands off my wand!"

Bella looked up with calm appraisal and raised her eyebrows.

"My Lord," she called. "Harry Potter is awake!" She got up and slipped the black wand into her robe.

She walked to Harry and reached out her hand.

Harry flinched away, but she merely touched the knob on the back of his head where Malfoy had hit him. "That was a good hit, wasn't it, little man? Did Lucius give you a headache?"

Harry glared, but she only laughed. "Good! But I'm afraid you'll have more than a headache soon. My Lord says the potion is ready! He's coming now. And then! Haha!" She laughed and twirled.

Abruptly Bella dropped in a bow.

Voldemort strode into the room, followed closely by a straggling line of Death Eaters. Bella leapt to her feet and extended Harry's wand to Voldemort's waiting hand.

He smiled indulgently as he took the wand from her fingers. "Ah, Bella. Excellent!" She straightened with pride.

Voldemort turned to Harry. "Harry Potter. I was beginning to think you might sleep our ceremony away. I'm so glad you'll be awake for it, after all! Your timing couldn't be more fortuitous."

* * *

Hagrid touched down his motorcycle outside his cabin. He shut off the engine and cringed as he heard Fang bark inside the house. "Ya better shut i', ya mangy mutt," Hagrid muttered under his breath. Whoever might have been sleeping in the house wasn't sleeping anymore.

Hagrid turned the outside knob to the kitchen and quietly pressed his face to the crack. Firelight still played in the far room, but Hagrid didn't see Harry. He opened the door wider and put his head in.

Fang looked up expectantly at him, ears pricked and dewlaps slobbering. Hagrid opened the door. He ruffled Fang's fur and murmured, "'ey, boy! Where's 'arry at?"

Hagrid went into the kitchen. A moment later he grunted and picked his umbrella off the counter. "Mus' be loosin' ma nut," Hagrid said to Fang. "Leavin' this layin' around!"

Hagrid shuffled into the main room. Harry was not sitting by Snape. He wasn't on the couch either. "Harry?" Hagrid whispered. "Where are you?"

Snape was watching the gamekeeper through slitted eyes. "What's the matter, Professor Hagrid?" he asked, his voice low from sleep.

Hagrid started guiltily. "Sorry ta wake ya, Professor."

Snape shook his head against the pillow. "Fang did."

Hagrid gave an embarrassed shrug and nervously patted the back of the chair. "Sorry 'bout that. Jus' came in to see how ya were. Ya can go back ta sleep. 'S only midnight."

Snape rolled over and blinked up. Hagrid towered over him. "Did you bring my wand?"

Hagrid hemmed a bit. "Well, no," he admitted.

"No?" Snape repeated. "What happened?"

Hagrid waved a hand and sat on the chair. "I' wasn' there."

Snape sat up. "What?"

Hagrid hemmed a bit more, tapping his index fingers together nervously. "Well, Dumbledore sent Tonks down firs' thing, ta scout out th' lay o' the land. When she reported back she said there was sommat major goin' on at the mansion, not a Death Eater in sight in the graveyard. She'd walked righ' in an' found yer wand. 'Cept it was still spelled to tha tree. She couln' get it. So she came back t' the Order sayin' she were 'avin' trouble. 'Course Dumbledore went with 'er 'imself. It's a tough spell our Tonks can' break. Bu' when they arrived, yer wand was gone!"

Snape took a deep breath. "Continue." He curved a finger over his lip.

"Th' whole Order apparated there. Went t' the mansion," Hagrid said, "ta see wha' they coul' find. Only it was emptied out. Dark as if noone'd ever been, despite wha' Tonks said. The Order's regrouped at Grimmauld Place now. I came back t' make sure everything's okay here. 'Ad ta pick this up," Hagrid admitted, laying the umbrella across his lap.

Snape dropped his hand. "What are they going to do?"

Hagrid shifted about. "Watch t' castle for sure. Lupin'll check th' portals ya made, though Dumbledore's got faith only 'arry'll be able t' use 'em, like ya said. I'll check th' one 'ere, 'n a bit. Then wait, I think, til You-Know-Who makes a move." Hagrid patted his beard. "Dumbledore'll come up wi' some way t' get yer wand back, don' ya worry."

Snape nodded absently at Hagrid. A moment later his eyes narrowed. "Where _is_ Potter?"

Hagrid shrugged. "'Parently not 'ere. 'e musta went back ta his room. Didn' 'e tell ya 'e was leaving?"

Snape mouth thinned. "No."

Hagrid's brows drew together. "I wouldn'a thought 'arry'd leave ya alone like tha'. Dumbledore said 'e'd stayed ta watch ya. Huh. Don' seem like 'arry, does it?"

Snape stared at Hagrid's umbrella. Suddenly his eyes widened and he shook his head. "No. Not even Potter..." He shoved himself off the covers and swung his feet to the floor. He caught his balance as he stood and put out his hand to Hagrid. "Give me your wand!" he demanded.

"What?" Hagrid clamped his hand around the umbrella; Snape bore down on him.

"Now!" Snape ordered. Hagrid shoved the umbrella at him and Snape unceremoniously grabbed it. He nearly ran into the yard. He was back a moment later, fuming.

"Wot's goin' on, Professor?" Hagrid grilled.

Snape immediately shouted, "That dunderhead! He is going to get us all killed!"

"'y?" Hagrid demanded. "Wat'd 'arry do?"

Snape visibly took himself in hand, but a vein in his forehead began to throb. "That... Potter... boy... has gone back to the graveyard!" His teeth clamped together.

Hagrid was caught flat-footed. "'arry?"

"YES!" Snape hollered back.

Hagrid grinned uncertainly. "Nah. Not 'arry. 'e won do anythin' so..."

"Stupid?" Snape finished. "Count on it." Snape knotted a fist in his hair. "I would have stopped him, if I'd realized... I was more than half asleep. I thought I was dreaming. Harry Potter has gone after my wand."

Hagrid's jaw worked madly. "Na. Wouln' Tonks 'ave seen 'im? Or any 'o us?"

Snape's shoulders sagged. He sank slowly onto the couch. "I'm going back tonight," he whispered. Snape's fingers trailed slowly down his face. He stared into the fire. "Could it be worse?"

Hagrid lumbered over. "Now, don ya be worrin', Professor. Dumbledore'll know wot ta do. " He reached for his umbrella, but Snape at glared him.

"I need it," Snape growled.

"Er. Righ' Professor; jus so's I get it back..." Hagrid watched as Snape sat silently wringing the umbrella between his fists, grinding his teeth and thinking hard. Hagrid got up and went to Fang, who was padding around the bed, sniffing the rabbit's trail.

Hagrid sat on the bed and looked at the pitcher on the night stand. Hagrid's brows drew together. He tipped the pitcher curiously and peered into it. Then he picked up the glass and shook around the drops of liquid at the bottom. Hagrid's dismayed gaze zoomed over to Snape. "Ah. Ya didn't drink this, did ya, Professor?"

"What?" Snape glanced up. "No. That was there."

"Ah," Hagrid's brows shot up, then drew together. "Than 'o did?"

"What?" Snape was instantly on his feet. He threw the umbrella on the couch and strode over to Hagrid. Snape grabbed the glass. His thin lips pulled down as he sniffed.

"Potter!" He snarled. Snape glared accusingly at Hagrid. He brandished the glass. "Don't you know what this is?"

Hagrid cleared his throat. "Well, were suppost'a be a sleeping potion fer ya, Professor."

"It's not made correctly!" Snape rudely interrupted.

"Ah, no," Hagrid wrung his hands. "I kind o' messed it up. Too weak. Wrong ingredients, 'r sommat." Snape ground his teeth impatiently and Hagrid blurted out, "Well, you was fightin' with 'arry! It were very distractin'!"

Snape put down the glass and threw up his hands. "I hope you told Potter not to drink it!"

Hagrid made a sound, but Snape quelled his protest with a glare. "Fine! So Potter's drank your slopped up potion, and now he's gone to give the Dark Lord exactly what he wants!"

Snape whipped past Hagrid and grabbed his black coat from the chair. Snape was headed out, when he suddenly backtracked and grabbed the pink umbrella. He put the tip to his temple and gave it a twirl. A silver strand clung to the wand. Snape stalked back to Hagrid and dropped the memory in the empty glass. He shoved the tumbler at Hagrid. "You give that to Dumbledore! And tell him to get the Order to Riddle's mansion. NOW!"

"Where are ya going, Professor?" Hagrid asked as Snape flung open the door, taking the umbrella with him.

"To get Potter back!" Snape shouted.

Snape vanished into the night.

* * *

The Death Eaters were in a great state of excitement. In the bright firelight of the dusty room, they danced and laughed. They drew symbols on the floor as Voldemort directed, casting charms in a line leading from Harry's feet to a cauldron suspended over a green fire. Harry lay trussed up on a path of spells.

The Death Eaters whirled around Harry, teasing him with sparks and flashes.

Voldemort suddenly appeared over Harry. He prodded Harry with his wand. "When the potion boils, I will have everything I need to strip you of your mother's pathetic soul barrier! I will have the only power that protects you!"

A shower of sparks lit the room and zoomed out the chimney, lighting up the sky. A chorus of bawdy laughter filled the room.

Harry gritted his teeth. "Be sure to let your Death Eaters keep that up," Harry grated out. "The whole town will be up here to investigate! Dumbledore will find us soon enough!"

Voldemort laughed. "Not likely! We are not when they are!"

Harry looked around. Not when they are? "What do you mean?" Harry asked, thoroughly confused.

Voldemort pointed to the clock. "Our past was with them, but our future... that is yet to be witnessed!" He laughed. "The Muggle-lover won't find us now!" The Death Eaters began dancing again.

Suddenly Harry understood. Voldemort had somehow used a Time-Turner to take them away from the Order's interference. He had no way of gauging when he was, and worse, no way to get back. Who knew when in time he might be?

Voldemort laughed at the realization in Harry's eyes. "Yes! Dumbledore will go to my father's mansion and find it quite empty, for we have moved away in time!"

"How?" Harry asked. "Where did you find a Time-Turner big enough to do it?"

Voldemort waged a finger before Harry's face. "Ah, ah, ah. I can't divulge my sources. Especially those in such very high places!"

The fire hissed as liquid bubbled out of the cauldron. Voldemort turned to watch the contents of the cauldron sputter like sparklers. The flame changed color and licked up, washing the room with a lurid red haze. An acrid stink burned Harry's eyes.

Voldemort straightened. "It is time!"

The Death Eaters left off dancing and lined up between Harry and the cauldron.

The Dark Lord's wand touched Harry's forehead and pulled him to his feet. Voldemort's hate burned in Harry's scar. Voldemort began to tread the spell path toward the flame enshrouded cauldron. Held in pain, magically shackled, Harry floated along behind.

"At first I did not understand," Voldemort stated. "Sixteen years ago, I learned that a child would be born, and that he would be a danger to me. So I determined to kill the child. I broke the secret keeper's silence and killed the child's parents. It should have been no small matter then, to be rid of the child." Voldemort turned to Harry. "But something went awry. The Avada Kedavra I set to kill you rebounded onto me. Most would think that would be the end of me!" The Death Eaters glanced at each other. "But I had a secret that only two of my Death Eater knew of."

Bella smiled greedily. She began to laugh. "Me! I knew! And I took the secret to Azkaban with me!" Her laughter stopped as Voldemort put his hand on her hair. She closed her eyes with pleasure.

"Yes, Bella you knew my secret. My soul barrier. Protection against Avada Kedavra!"

The Death Eaters gasped; clearly they hadn't known. They bowed, exclaiming praises to Voldemort.

"You are amazing, my Lord!" Peter Pettigrew simpered.

Voldemort let their exaltations die down. He began again. "Still, I did not understand. The Avada Kedavra rebounded on me, and I felt my soul come asunder! The barrier held, it forced my soul back together! I began to reform..." Voldemort looked at Harry's scar. "When something strange happened. I felt shattered again; power ricocheted off me. I sped away. I spent years regaining my strength."

Voldemort paused, tapping his wand against his palm. "But why? I have asked myself all this year, why did my soul come apart at all? I was supposed to be immune to Avada Kedavra. This evening past, I realized--I understood--my soul barrier was not complete, because _I_ was not complete! I was missing a part, stolen from me when a Mudblood was murdered!" Voldemort looked around at the Death Eaters. "Perhaps one of you can figure out who had it?"

The Death Eaters muttered; some of them looked at Harry.

"It was Snape," Voldemort cried. "Severus Snape! He came tonight, and I knew immediately! With one word, I took back my soul!" Voldemort lowered his wand to himself. "_Nimorte_." The silver snake appeared and flew to Voldemort, sinking into his skin. Voldemort sighed.

The Death Eaters pressed in, but he waved them back. "I am whole. And now I laugh at Dumbledore. All these years, mislead by a prophesy. Harry Potter does not have the power to vanquish me. He has only amazing luck and his mother's soul barrier! Protection that is illusion. An illusion that will be taken from you!" Voldemort rounded on Harry.

"No!" Harry wiggled furiously against his bonds, but Voldemort pointed his wand. Harry crashed onto the spell path.

The Dark Lord turned to a Death Eater. "Give it to me!" Goyle placed a silver goblet filled with steaming liquid from the cauldron in Voldemort's waiting hand. The Dark Lord smiled at Harry. He drank deeply, then dumped the rest over Harry's head. Harry gasped. It scalded him as it soaked into his shirt.

Voldemort handed the goblet to Bella. Voldemort's wand drew Harry to his feet afresh and lead him another step, only to cast Harry to the path again.

Bella bowed. She placed the refilled goblet in Voldemort's grasp. Again Voldemort drank deeply and tipped what was left over Harry's head.

As the burning liquid splashed over Harry the second time, a green mist began to leach from his skin. It was vivid and glowing, as beautiful a green as his mother's eyes.

Voldemort pulled Harry to his feet a third time, dragged him a third step. The mist drifted over the spell path. Voldemort cast Harry down into it and the mist curled away.

Voldemort accepted the filled goblet from Nott. As he drank, the mist gathered itself and condensed into the figure of a woman. Voldemort poured his drink over the apparition. A voice threaded through the mist, a ghostly memory: "Haaaa-rrrr-yyyy!"

Voldemort dipped the goblet into the cauldron himself. He poured the cupful of potion over Harry. The misty green figure dispelled and sped across the spell path. Voldemort drank a final goblet full of potion and the mist wrapped around him.

Harry jerked his head up, staring at the mist enshrouding Voldemort's body. "MOTHER!" Harry shrieked. "Don't leave me!"

Voldemort laughed and pointed his wand to Harry's forehead. "Witness how your protection abandons you!"

Harry screamed his pain.

Without warning, the door flew open. "_EXPELLIARMUS_!" Snape shouted.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Snape Triumphant**

The green mist flew apart with the force of Snape's spell. It raced off the spell path and vanished.

"NO!" Voldemort screamed. The cauldron beside him burst apart, erupting in a shower of boiling potion and metal shards.

Bella pulled her wand from her robe. "_STUPIFY_!" she roared. The figure at the door was blasted against the frame. Professor Snape sagged to the floor.

Harry staggered to his feet and leapt, only to slam into an invisible barrier surrounding the spell path. He made an inarticulate grunt and crashed to his knees. He wriggled against his bonds.

"Let me go! Professor Snape! Professor Snape!" Harry struggled harder, only to glare in consternation as Voldemort shook his head and crossed over the spell path.

"Ah, dear brother," Voldemort knelt by Severus, "I've heard, most unfortunately, that you did not use Dark Magic to heal yourself, as I hoped. My desire to have you back with us has been thwarted." Voldemort lazily raked Snape's face with his nails.

"Leave him alone!" Harry demanded from across the room, his voice harsh.

Voldemort trained a look over his shoulder. "Ah, but I won't do that." He pointed the wand and intoned, "_Ennervate_."

Snape opened his eyes. His focus drew on Voldemort's burning gaze and his mouth dropped in horror. Snape knocked back against the jamb, but Voldemort leapt forward and grabbed Snape's black hair. He hauled Snape to his feet.

Hagrid's knobby wand clattered to the floor beneath them, removed from the umbrella that had held it for so many years. A Death Eater reached for it.

Snape gave the wand a sharp kick. It whirled across the floor and skidded over the spell path.

Harry rolled on it. In a moment the bindings dropped from his arms and Harry was on his knees. Before he could gain his feet though, the Death Eaters had their wands trained on him. Harry panted, Hagrid's wand still in his hand.

Voldemort turned back to Harry, pulling Snape around. "Would you really sacrifice your life for this..._thing_, Harry Potter?"

Harry paused. It wasn't long, but the Death Eaters burst out laughing. Snape glared at Harry from beneath his greasy hair. Harry suddenly felt overwhelmed by guilt. It was the smallest thing, the deepest betrayal. But it didn't matter; Harry was already disarmed. Bella tied him up again.

Lucius and Nott grabbed Snape's arms and marched him across the room. Snape stared at Harry as they dragged him across the room. But the fight had gone out of Snape. Nott shoved him hard against the table edge. Snape bit his teeth together, but didn't try to get away.

"Bella!" Voldemort barked. "Bring the pensieve! Lucius, bind him to the table!"

Suddenly Snape started to struggle. Plates and bottles clattered to the floor as the Death Eaters dragged him onto the flat surface. Lucius grabbed Snape's wrists and pulled him sharply. Snape fell forward onto his belly.

Metal bands snaked from the table and anchored Snape's feet. Another band forced Snape's shoulders down, then his waist. His jaw pressed uncomfortably on the verge of the tabletop. Lucius twisted Snape's arms and pinned them to the table, as Voldemort approached.

The Dark Lord trailed his wand over Snape's arm. The threads burned behind, melting away to reveal the now white-scarred version of the Dark Mark. Snape closed his eyes.

Voldemort gave a start of surprise. "What is this?" Voldemort demanded.

"Old Magic," Snape replied.

Voldemort circled him. "Old Magic? You lie! There is no such thing! Only the magic of normal wizards, and Dark Magic, which I command!"

"There is Old Magic," Snape growled. "It protects Harry Potter."

Voldemort's rage was fierce. "No! The only thing that protected that boy was the soul barrier his mother created! It's gone now! Though not to me. You ruined my spell!"

Snape's lips curled as he looked up at Voldemort. "Potter used Old Magic to rid me of the Dark Mark. He will use it rid us of you!" Snape cried out as Lucius' silver-tipped cane ripped open his scalp. Blood ran over Snape's skin and splashed on the floor.

"Don't!" Harry struggled. "You've got me! Let Professor Snape go!"

Voldemort turned to Harry. "You forget, Professor Snape promised to tell me about the Order of the Phoenix!"

At that moment Bella returned. She carried a shallow stone basin. Light reflected from the liquid within and danced over Bella's demented features. She smiled at Harry; he was staring in horror at the bowl. He knew that basin. But how could it be? "Dumbledore's pensieve!" Harry rasped.

Voldemort slammed his hand on the table, making broken dishes rattle. "My pensieve, Harry Potter! Not that pathetic Mudblood lover's!" Snape flinched as Voldemort reached to absently stroke Snape's hair. "Our dear Professor constructed this rather clever device for me during my first rise to power. I did not know there was another." He slapped Snape's cheek in a parody of affection. "We will have to talk about that."

Bella giggled and settled the pensieve on the floor beneath Snape's head. She spoke to Snape. "Perhaps he will be glad to know this pensieve has served us well in the Dark Lord's return to power?" She put her face very close to Snape's. "It's been a great boon, Severus."

Severus jerked and barred his teeth. "I pray it will curse you," he spat.

"No, Severus." Voldemort raked his claws through Snape's hair again. Nails scraped Snape's scalp. "It will curse you. Harry Potter," Voldemort said, "you should have seen all the fun Professor Snape used to have with this. How he loved to torture muggles and wizards! Ha!" Voldemort turned to Snape. "Your anticipation in dragging knowledge from their heads, raping them of their very being, was a joy to me. You were magnificent!"

Snape tried to turn away, but Voldemort grabbed Snape's lank hair and pulled his head back. Harry stared in horror, as he read the truth of it in Snape's eyes.

"You wouldn't want the same done to you, would you?" Voldemort inquired of Snape. "I am going to, you know. Drain your thoughts and look at them at my leisure. I will fill this bowl with all the secrets that Dumbledore intrusts to you, and I will use you to bring about the Order's downfall. Does that appeal to you, dear brother?"

Snape jerked at the bands binding him, but there was little space for him to move.

Voldemort slammed Snape's head down. "You're not going anywhere are you? I will remove every thought in your head, and use them to destroy you!" He glared up, revenge hot in his eyes. "But first, there is the matter of your wand!" Voldemort's hand shot out. "Bella! Give it to me!"

Snape gasped. Bella curled her lips, shaking her head. "My Lord, I don't..."

"Give it to me, girl," Voldemort rasped. "I know you have it!"

Bella jumped to her feet. "Yes, my Lord! I do... I didn't mean... Here!" She stumbled forward, producing Snape's black wand from her robe, and pressed it to Voldemort's hand. "I swear, my Lord, I wasn't hiding it! I just wanted to, I mean... My Lord!"

Voldemort's calm consideration caused her to tumble to a halt. He smiled slightly. "Of course, my dear. And you shall have it back."

Bella stared. Then her lips parted and she gasped, "Take everything he has, my Lord! Leave him with nothing!"

Voldemort smiled at her. "Dear Bella. How you love your work! And how you hate Snape!" He thrust the wand hilt first back to her. "Why not come show us what it contains?"

"Yes, my Lord!" she crowed. She pulled her wand from her robe and grabbed at Snape's. The glare of the rising sun shone in her eyes. Bella turned her back to the window. "Now," she guided them toward each other. "_Priori incantatum_!"

Snape's face blazed with red light. "Never!" Snape screamed. A great explosion blasted Snape's black wand to splinters in Bella's hand. She screamed in surprise. The pieces vanished.

The leader of the Death Eaters growled angrily. "A sad try, Severus Snape, and too late! We don't need the wand. We have you!" Voldemort cried in victory. "Bella, strip him!"

Bella stabbed her wand vehemently against Snape's temple. She twirled it, building a silvery ball on the wand's end.

"Get out!" Snape spat. Voldemort laughed at Severus' fighting, his eyes screwed shut, his yellow teeth grinding. "Stay out of my thoughts!"

Snape jerked his head, but Bellatrix held him brutally still. She pulled the wand away, and the familiar thread of silver trembled between the wand and Severus' head.

Bella dipped the wand with its silvery passenger into the pensieve. She ran it back to Snape's temple, up and down. The silver began to flow of its own accord.

Snape gasped with every breath. Blood dripped with the silver. "I won't let you... I won't betray them; not my thoughts... I won't, I won't," he panted.

Bella put a finger against the silver thoughts running from him, and twirled the streaming strands around.

"Severus," she breathed, "I always wondered what a person would look like, without a thought in their head. Shall we find out?" Without warning, Bella balled her fist around the strands and yanked.

Snape's fingers stretched out, shaking convulsively, his dry lips pulled open in agony as he tried to stop the thoughts from draining away. Bella giggled deep in her throat. The Professor's recollections doubled and redoubled, flowing faster as Bella forcefully rent his memories from him.

"How does it feel, Snape?" Her breaths were short gasps as she stared avidly at him. "Your own your thoughts--twisted to the Dark Lord's will. And you... unable to stop us." She lifted her wand over Snape's head. "I want to know, Snape: what gift would you give the Dark Lord? What asphodel?"

Suddenly, Voldemort shoved Bella back. Her wand clattered to the floor.

"Bella!" Voldemort roared. "Snape is mine! His thoughts are mine alone! How dare you question him?" Bella jumped sideways as Voldemort swung his wand at her. The thoughts in the basin whirled, separating out memories which spoke in echoing voices, memories which would tell Voldemort what Bella had asked.

Voldemort blasted another spell at Bella. When she skittered away, he leaned over the bowl, ignoring the thoughts still dripping from above.

Harry huddled, bound at Nott's feet. He heard Snape's angry voice echo from the pensieve, "It is because of _my _diligence the Dark Lord has never discovered the link between us. Fortunately, he still believes his connection with Potter is due to resonances from the failed Avada."

"Yes," Sirius mocked. "Occlumency has made you a real hero, Snape!" Harry jumped at Sirius' voice but he couldn't see into the pensieve. Tears came to Harry's eyes; he wanted to see.

"That's enough," Dumbledore's voice commanded. "We can't deny the piece of Voldemort's soul in Harry's scar, but how do we remove it without killing him?"

Snape purred, "Perhaps, if the boy were to die..."

The memory was drowned out by Voldemort bulling over Harry. Harry had never been so scared. The monster with the red snake eyes shrieked, "_YOU_! You have a piece of my soul in your scar? All this time! How did you take it? My strength, my parseltounge! I will have them back!"

Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry's scar.

Harry waited, certain he was about to die. Suddenly Snape's grating croak filled the room, "Yes, do! Take back your soul from Harry Potter! I can hardly wait!"

Voldemort stopped. He looked up, swept back to Snape. "What do you mean?"

Snape's lips pulled to the side, his eyes glittered. "Take your soul from Potter now."

Voldemort stared at him. "No. I don't trust you. Why would you want me to do it?" Voldemort leaned closer. "What am I missing? Snape! _What am I missing_?" Voldemort twirled his wand against Snape's temple and a new thread appeared.

Silver bled from Snape's temple. In the pensieve, Snape's voice answered, "Asphodel."

"No!" the real Snape snapped, grinding his teeth. "Not from my thoughts!"

"Yes," Voldemort replied. He stared into the pensieve with deep concentration. "Tell me why I must have asphodel to take my soul from Harry Potter!" Suddenly he crowed in triumph, "Great potion maker! I have divined the answer from you! For lack of one little ingredient, I could have been killed tonight. But you have sealed the boy's fate. You have given me a gift indeed!" Voldemort rose to his feet. "Lucius! Find asphodel!"

"My Lord!" The Death Eater strode from the room.

Voldemort came to Harry and used his wand to lift Harry onto a chair. After a moment Voldemort spoke. "Perhaps you wonder, Harry Potter, why I do not take my soul from you?"

Voldemort searched Harry's face. "It is because Snape knows something I did not. He knows that you have taken a sleeping potion!"

Harry only wondered a moment. His eyes widened; he pulled back with a gasp.

"So! It is true," Voldemort crowed. "That potion would tie me to you, if I were to take my soul now. But asphodel negates the potion. It will sever our tie!" Voldemort stood, moving jerkily with excitement. "Once you have consumed asphodel, I will be able to take back my soul. I will have all my powers! You, Harry Potter, will be completely defenseless! My brothers! The boy will die!"

Lucius stepped forward and bowed. "Asphodel essence, my Lord." Lucius passed a vial of amber liquid to Voldemort.

Voldemort held the vial for all to see. "Harry Potter. Prepare yourself." He swept toward Harry.

Harry looked with pleading eyes at Snape. "Professor! Please! Get us out of here!" But Snape stared with sick blankness at the floor.

Voldemort leaned over Harry. "He won't help you now, will he? He waits for nothing but death. Soon he will join you!" Voldemort pulled the cork from the vial.

Harry tried to seal his lips, tossing his head from side to side, but the freezing reek of the liquid burned his nose, bit at his eyes. Voldemort poured the liquid over Harry's mouth. Harry gasped and inhaled. He swallowed and gagged. The essence burned through his body.

Every nerve contorted in protest; coldness spread through Harry's chest. His arms ached. Even his fingers hurt. Pain blossomed in Harry's head, spread through his body. Then Harry heard glass shatter.

Voldemort dropped the vial. He began to writhe in pain, holding his head and blasting the air with this wand. Death Eaters were fleeing in every direction, but Harry didn't know. He couldn't watch. The light was fading before his eyes. The asphodel had poisoned him. Harry knew with sudden certainty, that he was dying!

Voldemort rose to his feet. "What is this?" he cried, "What's happening to me?" Voldemort turned wildly and saw Professor Snape still strapped to the table. Severus had an insidious grin on his face. "Snape!" Voldemort shouted, "What have you done? I must take back my power from Harry Potter!"

Through his agony Harry heard Snape delight in his triumph: "Try to do it when Potter's already dead!"

Voldemort shrieked: a great answering howl. A brilliant light lit Harry's visage and a tremendous crash of broken furniture sounded. But Harry couldn't draw a breath. His heart slowed until it no longer beat.

Harry's jaw slackened and his head lolled to the side.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: A Stopper in Death**

Harry thought he was going to gag.

A sickly syrup was running down the back of his throat, filling his mouth and forcing its way into his brain, burning in a most unpleasant manner. The sensation of bile rising in his throat was causing him to gag, but Harry found that he couldn't swallow, try as he might, because a large and slimy, foul-tasting lump was wedged in his mouth.

Harry desperately wanted to spit the thing to the floor, but as he worked it with his tongue, the lump crumbled to powder. A voice rang in his ears, "Swallow it, Harry. I know it tastes vile, but the bezoar will help."

Harry swallowed the mass and pulled a face. The burning in his body slowly subsided. He could hear shouting, but the noise seemed far away.

He opened his eyes, to find himself looking into Dumbledore's concerned gaze.

"Harry, I'm so glad we found you!"

Harry nodded. He sat up and looked around. The spell path was broken to bits. The walls were covered in scorch marks and all around furniture was upended. "What's happened?" he asked.

Dumbledore's bright eyes twinkled at him. "The Order's arrived. The Death Eaters are routed. It took us a while to find you, you know. The time was not precisely what we expected it to be. It was not sunrise. When we found you, Voldemort was blowing the place apart. It appeared you were... poisoned. Voldemort readily deserted you." Dumbledore's lips pulled a bit. "But the effects of the Draught of Living Death are easily nullified by the bezoar. We're lucky we found you in time."

Harry was completely disconcerted. "Found me in time? Snape tried to kill me!" Harry yelled.

Dumbledore's eyes opened in surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about, Harry. Professor Snape would never harm you."

Harry was indignant. "Don't lie to me! Snape was trying to kill me!" He scrambled up and thrust his finger in Dumbledore's face. "To fulfill the prophesy! What was it? 'The boy should die tonight.'" Dumbledore looked at Harry in incomprehension, so Harry plowed on. "And in the pensieve, I heard Snape say asphodel would break the bond between me and Voldemort. You should've seen him. Snape was _laughing_! I heard him, just before I died! 'Try to do it when he's already dead!' I understand now! Snape tricked Voldemort into poisoning me, so Voldemort couldn't take back his soul! Snape was willing to give me up!" Harry stood there panting, while Dumbledore registered his shock.

"Harry!" Dumbledore was flustered. "That's ridiculous! You never died! You were never in danger of doing so! Professor Snape saved your life! The asphodel was a ruse. It gave us time! Severus knew about the sleeping potion, knew its properties... Don't you understand? He'd meant for the Order to back him, but the mansion was empty when we got there. Voldemort has a Time-Turner!"

Harry nodded, angry then that they might not have found him. "Yes, but Snape didn't tell you about it, did he?"

Dumbledore stared into Harry's eyes. He shook his head. "Harry, you have got to get over this hatred of Professor Snape. How could he have known? He came to save you!"

"Really?" Harry muttered, but Dumbledore continued, "Professor Snape left his memory of the potion with Hagrid, so that we would know to bring a bezoar! Professor Snape remembered the prophesy and came after you alone!" Dumbledore was now the one panting in anger.

Harry stared stoically. He was biting the inside of his cheek.

Dumbledore's gaze passed over Harry searchingly, and his mood abruptly shifted. He held up a hand imploringly. "Professor Snape expected me--expected us--to come right away. I know he would never intentionally harm you, no matter what you think. You're valuable to Professor Snape, Harry." Dumbledore could see the impression he was making on Harry and he pressed his advantage.

"But Voldemort was too close to achieving his end, and Professor Snape knows Voldemort must never be allowed to have his soul back! It will be the end of you, and of any chance we have of fighting him! But by fooling Voldemort into giving you asphodel, the ingredient that turned your sleeping potion into the Draught of Living Death, Professor Snape bought us the time we needed to find you." Dumbledore stopped and looked up. "He is far too clever for his own good. He may have gotten himself killed."

Harry stared. He shook his head, looked around. He balled his fists and ground his teeth. His eyes stung. "No. You think I misunderstood? That the conversation in the pensieve was a lie? Are you saying I'm a fool? That Snape's saved my life again and again? He tried to poison me and I hate him! I do! I wish he were dead!"

A cool voice spoke to him. "You just might have your wish, Harry. And what a pathetic wish it is!"

Harry jumped around and saw Remus Lupin's face, twisted and puffy, with a scornful gaze that was directed at Harry himself.

"Professor!" Harry smiled. "It's you!"

He ran toward Lupin, but Lupin shoved him back, as if repelled by Harry's mere presence. "I heard what you just said, Harry. How could you?" Lupin frowned. "Professor Snape saved your life! We would never have found you if he hadn't sent his wand back in time. I came to the mansion, and it was empty! But suddenly Severus' wand suddenly appeared." Lupin shuddered. "It was broken to bits by the force of the spell that sent it back! Do you have any idea how that had to have hurt him?"

A tear dripped down Lupin's face and he shook his head. "The fell to the floor and burst into flames. All that was left was the image of a rising, red sun. Would you have known? It was a message. Fortunately Dumbledore was there and understood it. He told us you were forward in time. But sunrise was too late! You'd already gone ahead!"

Lupin shook Harry. "Don't you understand? Severus took a chance! He destroyed his wand, trusting to luck to get us to you! Because if we'd been there a minute sooner, or a minute later, or if we'd been in another room, where Dumbledore wouldn't see it, we would never have understood what to do! We would never have found you!"

Harry was shaken by Lupin's certainty. He turned to Dumbledore. "It's all true, then? Professor Snape saved my life, by destroying his wand?"

Dumbledore nodded. "But now we don't know where he is, Harry. The Death Eaters may have him!"

"No," Harry said. "He was tied to a table, here in the hall. You said the Death Eaters were running away..." Harry suddenly turned. He ran toward the heavy table, turned up against the wall.

At the top edge of the table, the wall was punched in. The elegant wood table had cracked and one of the legs had fallen off. Harry peered behind it. Snape was lying in a heap on the floor, crushed in the shadow of the propped up tabletop.

"Oh, no!" Harry felt his breath leave him. "Professor Snape!" Harry reached to grab Snape's hand.

Dumbledore shoved past Lupin and waved his wand. The table skittered away.

Harry kneeled quickly. He was shaking Snape, calling to him, when Dumbledore took Harry's shoulders and pulled him back. "Harry! Harry, stop! You'll hurt him!"

Harry looked wildly at Dumbledore. "We've got to help him!" He looked down. Broken pieces of the pensieve rested against the wall. A pool of memories remained, cradled in the largest shard. The rest of the silver had evaporated away.

"Yes, Harry, we will!" Dumbledore said. He ran his wand over Snape's body. "Harry see if there's any water! And get something warm to wrap him in."

Harry nodded and charged away. The mansion was old and dusty. Many rooms were nearly empty. Harry moved quickly. At last he spied a blacked kettle of stale tea over a dead fire and several moldy cloaks in a closet. Harry grabbed one. It tore at the shoulders. The cloaks were useless; Harry hoped Snape could do without. He heard a pained shout.

Harry suddenly didn't want Snape to be touched by anything a Death Eater had ever worn.

Harry ran back to the front room and nearly fell to his knees. "Here's water, Professor," Harry said to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took the small black kettle from him, and put a hand on Snape's shoulder.

"Severus, can you drink this?" Harry realized Snape was awake. Snape nodded and Dumbledore put the kettle to his lips.

Harry looked to Lupin.

Suddenly, Nymphadora Tonks appeared at the door. "Dumbledore! Come quick! You'll never guess who's shown up--Cornelius Fudge with his shabby dementor pet! You've got to get rid of him! He's totally undermining everything we're doing!"

Dumbledore looked at Lupin. "Can you take care of him?"

"Yes," Remus responded. "We can't move him right now anyway. Go, go! When things are settled a bit, we'll take Severus out of here." Lupin took Snape's shoulder briefly, and Dumbledore nodded.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: The Silver Claw**

Snape let his eyes wander over Harry's face. "So, Potter," he sighed. "You're still alive."

Harry gulped and nodded. "I guess... I owe you my thanks."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Don't bother, Potter. Your thanks are worthless to me."

Harry's eyes narrowed, but Lupin stepped in. "Severus, stop it! Harry is not his father. Stop treating him like he is."

Snape flashed at that. "I do not treat him like his father!" Snape wedged up himself against the wall and shrugged off Lupin's helping hand. His burning eyes wondered over Harry. "I treat him exactly as he deserved to be treated. If that's like his father, the fault doesn't lie with me."

"The fault does lie with you," Lupin said. "You are being antagonistic over something that happened too many years ago."

Snape turned sharply to Remus. "Watch it, Lupin, or you'll be making Wolfsbane Potion without me."

Lupin frowned. His voice was very flat. "You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?" Snape purred. "Maybe I just don't have the time to make any more. Or maybe having a werewolf in the Order is making it too difficult to recruit help!"

Lupin shook his head. "Severus you are a spiteful git." Snape pursed his lips. "But sadly, I don't want anything to happen to you. Could you call off your vendetta, and let us help you? "

Snape suddenly lunged at Lupin. Harry lost his balance and tumbled back. It was a good thing because a body hurled past where he'd just been. It was Wormtail!

Pettigrew landed on Snape. He made a grab for Lupin, but Snape hauled him back. "Let me go!" Peter shouted. He twisted and his silver hand flashed. It came up red. Snape snarled as he gripped his scratched arm, but Peter was already making another grab at Remus.

Harry jumped forward, throwing himself on Wormtail's back. His jump carried them both forward and Peter landed heavily on Lupin. Lupin screamed.

Peter managed to shove Harry off and scrambled to his feet. On the ground, Lupin rolled himself around four deep punctures. He was bleeding from his belly.

Peter's voice cried, "Remus! You destroyed me!"

Harry wavered a moment. He needed to help Lupin, but Peter was reaching into his pocket. Harry grabbed Lupin's wand from his sweater. Harry looked up to see Pettigrew's wand trained on him.

A hand shoved Harry down. Pettigrew shouted, "_Avada Kedavra_!" and Snape was blasted back. Harry turned to hex Peter in kind, but Wormtail already held aloft the mirror portkey. Pettigrew disappeared.

Harry turned to Lupin. "Professor! Professor!"

Lupin squeezed his eyes shut. "Get Dumbledore," he wheezed.

"But I've got to do something!" Harry panted. "It was silver!"

Lupin rolled to his knees, and tried to sit up. He put his hand on Harry's shoulder, and looked up at him from under a fringe of hair. "Harry! I'm okay! I'm okay. It's not a silver bullet, even if it does rather hurt! The poison is slow. We've got to help Severus!" Harry whipped around.

Lupin moaned and curled up again. "Harry, take my wand! Go get Dumbledore!"

Harry picked up Lupin's wand and ran into the hall. The noise the Death Eaters were causing crashed over him. There was fighting still going on outside. He was out the front door, when Harry ran into the Headmaster.

"Dumbledore!" Harry jumped. "Hurry! Lupin needs your help! He was stabbed by silver! And Snape has been hurt!" Harry took off back down the hall, Dumbledore right beside him.

They came in to the Great Room and Lupin looked up. "Albus!" he called. "I need your help!"

Dumbledore went to Remus and pulled up his shirt. Lupin's abdomen was covered with age-old scars; bites and scratches from being a werewolf confined to a shrieking shack. Added to them were the four punctures that Peter had given him.

"Ah, just a moment, Remus," Dumbledore soothed. "I think I can get this." He waved his wand left and right. The wounds disappeared. "Do you feel any silver?" Dumbledore asked. Lupin shook his head.

Harry smiled and handed Lupin back his wand. "Thank goodness!" Harry exclaimed.

"And thank you, Harry. Albus," Lupin looked up. "How's Severus doing?"

They all turned. Snape was lying twisted on the floor. Dumbledore slipped an arm under his shoulder and sat him up. "Wake up, Severus!" he called.

Snape opened his eyes. As he did so blood ran from his nose. Snape jumped forward before it got on his clothes. "Ugh!" he growled and wiped his face.

"A real pain, is it, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape turned a glare at him. "I'd like to see you deal with it. The next one to Avada me is going to get a broken nose." Snape glared at Lupin.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Glad to see you're getting back to your old self." Dumbledore suddenly looked somber. "Severus, you know, this is the second time you've let Peter get away."

Harry gasped at the comment. It seemed vastly unfair. "Professor..."

Snape's lips tightened as he cut Harry off. "He had a portkey."

"And you couldn't have done something about that?" Dumbledore asked.

"No." Severus barely opened his lips. Snape's eyes glittered. "The Order will have to do without. Despite all appearances, I am not, nor am ever likely to be, omniscient. Headmaster."

Dumbledore grinned. "No, Severus. Never that!" And Snape smiled.

Harry couldn't believe it! Snape smiling! But instead of adding brightness to Snape's sallow features, Snape's smile only exposed twisted, yellow teeth. It flattened his hooked nose and wrinkled his eyes. Harry was completely repulsed, and his face showed it.

Snape's amuzed gaze wandered to Lupin's happily tearful face, then to Harry's noxious stare, and suddenly the smile vanished.

His hateful sneer reappeared. But Harry recognized the hurt in it, as Snape looked away. Snape moved away.

Harry needed a distraction. "What's happening with the Order?" he asked.

Dumbledore looked at Harry and sighed. He answered, "The Death Eaters are still out there. I wanted to convince Cornelius to leave this business to the Order. It's not outside the Ministry's jurisdiction, but he is not helping. And I don't know how he found us."

"Did you get the Dark Lord?" Snape leaned forward frenziedly.

"No," Dumbledore answered. "He's still out there!"

Suddenly a hole blasted in through the outside wall. Pieces of glass, wood and plaster flew at them. Dumbledore threw up his arm and the debris dropped harmlessly to the floor.

Cornelius Fudge stood outside the gaping hole, his wand raised.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Dumbledore's Patronus **

Aurors crowded in around Fudge; they pressed into the room.

Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, honed in on Albus. "Dumbledore!" he shouted. "There you are!" Fudge stopped short at the sight of Snape. "Severus Snape!" He pointed his wand at Snape and waved at the others around him. "Get away! All of you! This one's for Azkaban!"

Anger glinted in Dumbledore's eyes as he rose to his feet. "No! You have no right to arrest Severus, Cornelius! It is because of him that we knew when to come!"

Fudge advanced further into the room. "He's one of them! He's got that Devil's Mark on his arm! He showed it to me, remember? All this time you've known Snape is a Death Eater, yet you've let him near that boy! Now look what's come of it!"

"What's come of it is that Harry's been rescued from Voldemort!" Lupin retorted. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Dumbledore. Behind them, Harry and Snape climbed to their feet.

"Voldemort! Voldemort!" Fudge retorted. "We'll take him too! He'll be glad to see his crony in Azkaban! They can rot together!"

"Cornelius Fudge! Be silent!" Dumbledore roared.

"I will not," Fudge shouted back. "The dementors are coming! They'll dispense some justice!"

Harry jumped. He didn't want to deal with dementors. As he turned, Snape made a grab at Harry. "What are you doing?" Harry twisted. "Let me go!"

Snape hissed, "The Death Eaters still are out there!"

Suddenly Fudge cried, "_Imperio_!" The spell struck Snape. He froze.

"Cornelius! What are you doing?" Dumbledore strode toward the Minister of Magic. "You'll go to Azkaban yourself for this! Release him right now!"

Harry wiggled out of Snape's grip, interposing himself between Snape and the Aurors, but Fudge was still shouting at Dumbledore. "Now see here, Dumbledore! I've witnessed this fellow's unbalanced behavior before! I'd risk Azkaban before I'd let him do anything to harm young Harry!"

"You're not protecting Harry!" Dumbledore shouted. "You've just Imperioed an innocent man! And there are dementors coming!"

Fudge teetered. "What proof do you have he's innocent?" Fudge took another step.

Suddenly Harry felt a coldness between his shoulder blades. Sadness pulled at him; all the happiness he had ever known in his life was being sucked away. Lupin turned, wand out, and jerked Harry away. The dementor glided into sight behind Snape. It circled him, its clammy skeletal hand drifting around Snape's waist. Then it stopped, face to face with Snape. It inhaled. Professor Snape slid into its tightening embrace, and it leaned over him.

"Fudge, stop it!" Lupin cried.

"I lifted it! He's not under my Imperio anymore!" Fudge called back.

"Not Snape!" Harry shouted angrily, "The dementor! Stop the dementor!"

Snape hung in the dementor's arms, white and shaking. It was holding his weight. The dementor was pulling back its hood.

Fudge stumbled forward. "Dementor! Dementor! Stop! You do not have permission! You may not perform the Kiss on this man! He is not a prisoner of Azkaban!"

The dementor's hood shifted, as though it was considering Fudge's command, but a moment later it turned back to Snape. The sucking became deeper. The dementor's lips moved toward Snape's. Snape's chest heaved.

Dumbledore leapt to Severus' rescue. "_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!" he thundered.

A swarm of bees shot from Dumbledore's wand. They flew as a buzzing silver cloud, encircling Snape and the dementor. The hum became a deafening roar. The bees attacked again and again, stinging the dementor, driving it back. The dementor released its grip and flowed away. Snape dropped to the floor.

Dumbledore and Lupin ran to Snape. He lay on the ground, twitching and jerking, caught in the nightmare of his worst memories. Lupin dropped to his knees and tried to hold Snape's head still. The Aurors were horrified and gasped as they watched.

"Fudge!" Dumbledore turned on the Minister. "I told you not to trust them!"

Cornelius was backing away, shaking his head madly. "No, it can't be! It can't be! The dementor...disobeyed me!"

"Yes," Dumbledore replied, "They listen to Voldemort now!"

Outside there was a massive explosion. The Aurors turned in shock. Tonks ran in, wildly lurching, her hand clasped to her leg. "The dementors! There's more; they keep coming! They've turned on us! They're helping the Death Eaters! We need help! All of you! Hurry!"

Cornelius ran to the hole in the wall and looked out at the chaos in the yard. He steadied himself against the wall. He gasped quietly, "How can we stop them? There's so many and they're no longer under my control!"

Dumbledore turned to Harry. Harry was pinning Snape down with his hands on Snape's chest.

"Go! Go, Professor!" he shouted. "I'll take care of Snape!"

Dumbledore only hesitated a moment, then took off.

"You too!" Harry looked up at Lupin.

Remus shook his head, "I've got to help him!"

Harry waved Lupin off. "You can help us both by driving off the Death Eaters! They're going to come back!" Lupin's eyes snapped between Harry and Snape. Suddenly Lupin bolted into the daylight.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: The Soul Barrier **

Harry stared into Snape's darting black eyes. Severus muttered in fright. The Kiss hadn't been completed, but the dementor had left Snape in a place of horror.

Harry wondered what he could do to stop Snape's nightmares. He wasn't recovered from the draining sadness himself; Harry could still hear his mother scream. But Harry didn't have any remedy at hand. He knew chocolate worked best to blunt a dementor's effects, but he had none in his pockets. He hadn't purchased any while visiting Hogsmeade. He didn't have his wand either.

Snape's back arched. "MOTHER!" he screamed. Snape fought the air, fought himself.

Suddenly Harry's eyes grew wide. He was near floor level and he could see something he'd missed before. His holly wand was hidden by the lip of the hearth.

Harry leaned over Snape. "Professor. Professor, I'm going to help you! I'll be right back."

Harry jumped to his feet and covered the distance in a bounding leap. He grabbed his wand and dropped back to hold Snape. Harry did the only thing he could think of. "_Legilimens_!" Harry said.

Harry felt himself being pulled down into Snape's nightmare. It caught at his senses, overwhelming him until he couldn't tell his feelings from Snape's. Pride, fear, distrust crashed over Harry. A longing for connection, constantly buried by betrayals, a conglomeration of the past and the present.

Harry twisted with the agony of Snape's memories: his frail frame ached from hexes and dehydration. His mouth hurt as he vomited again. An awful child that drew attention to himself, that's what his father said. It was his own fault. His mother tried to help. Everyone knew she was Muggle-born. He had told. His father blamed him when she disappeared. And Hogwarts, worse than home. Tortured, despised. Snape needed his mother, but she disappeared! If she couldn't be there, he didn't need help from any Mudbloods! Lily included. Lucius smiled slyly over the cauldron in the Slytherin common room. He offered Snape a chance for protection and revenge. Kneeling to Voldemort Snape renounced his mother's blood. A black skull and snake overlay everything. And then a memory so full of pain, a shame so deep, Harry fell into it.

"My Lord," the adult Snape said, rather excitedly. "The Avada Kedavra kills by splintering the soul. We can use Dark Magic to harvest the pieces."

"To what end?" Voldemort asked.

"To form a soul barrier and make us immune to the killing curse!"

Voldemort stood, a hungry gleam in his eye. He circled Snape and laughed, "Yes, there is a reason you are my favorite!" He paused, touching his wand to his lips. "Would you like an even greater honor?"

Snape's lips parted. "Yes," he breathed.

"Hold out your arm," Voldemort said.

Harry struggled, trying to escape Snape's memory as the silver snake burrowed into his arm.

"Kill James Potter," Voldemort's voice echoed.

Snape was running. He was afraid. He hadn't killed James. The Dark Lord would be angry; he must get away. He ran to Hogsmeade. Snape saw Dumbledore go into the Goat's Head Inn. He followed and pressed his ear to the door. A harsh voice spoke within. Hands closed on him and dragged him away, before he heard it all. Snape laughed with relief. He would carry the news to the Dark Lord, and he would not be killed.

Voldemort sat in his throne-like chair. "What else?"

Snape replied, "That is all I heard my Lord!"

"That is not enough." Voldemort stood. "Where is the soul barrier you promised me?"

Snape bowed his head. "I failed you. I couldn't kill Potter."

Voldemort narrowed eyes looked deep into Snape's. "Are you Death Eater or not? Do you still stand by your vows?"

"Of course," Snape agreed.

"I sense otherwise," Voldemort pointed his wand and a bell tone sounded. "You will have another opportunity. This time you will kill a Mudblood."

Snape nodded.

Bella swayed into the room. With her came a bound woman, a bag over her head. The woman was starved and trembled. Her cries were muffled.

"Kill this one and take her soul," Voldemort commanded. "And I will forgive you."

Bella pulled off the hood. Snape recognized his mother.

His mother who had disappeared! Snape tried to damp down feelings of fear, then joy. He was a Death Eater. He would kill the Muggle-born. She was the only one who cared! He struggled, unable to do it. Bella whipped spells at the woman, hurting her, making her scream. Snape felt tears on his face. He tried to make Bella stop. The Dark Lord loomed over it all, and Snape knew there would be no escape. The woman would suffer until he killed her. But he would not take her soul for Voldemort!

Snape shouted, "_Avada Kedavra_!" and his mother crumpled.

Then his nightmarish victory turned in defeat. Bella had her wand out. At the moment his mother's soul splintered, Bella called out the spell to harvest it. Snape stared in horror. His mother's soul barrier flowed into Bella. She leapt about in a wild dance, holding up her Dark Mark for Snape to see. "I serve the Dark Lord!" she cried. "I serve the Dark Lord!" Bella aimed a curse at Snape.

Harry was fighting, dueling for his life, grief stricken, revenge-crazed.

Tears ran in torrents down his face, but he realized the tears were his own. Snape was below him, sobbing uncontrollably. Harry hauled Snape close and let him cry.

Snape rested his head on Harry's shoulder. Finally he pushed Harry away and stood. He wobbled to the hole in the wall and looked out. Against the bright sky Snape looked worn.

Harry came up beside him. Snape reached out and backed them both away from the chaos outside. Harry considered Snape's red, swollen eyes. He knew he didn't look much better himself. But he understood. "You killed her out of compassion. Something a true Death Eater would never do. You loved your mother."

Snape flicked a glance at Harry. "I loved her," he agreed.

Harry's head still swam with Snape's emotions. "Voldemort's hatred killed your mother," Harry finally stated. "I think you already left him when you didn't kill my father."

Snape's brows drew together. He crossed his arms. "I couldn't." The words caught in his throat.

Harry tried to trace where the feelings led, but they were fading away. There was only a little bit left. "Because he pulled you back at the Whomping Willow?"

Snape shook his head slowly. "It wasn't just that...James took my part against Dumbledore, against Sirius, my father." Snape's voice broke. "All my life, I've been someone's scapegoat, the butt of their blame. Except, once, James Potter stood up for me."

Harry felt he was going to cry. "But you hate my father," he whispered.

"Do I?" Snape laughed bitterly. "He was a selfish, arrogant man. I went to thank him, and he threw my thanks in my face. He handed me over to his friends and they humiliated me in front of the entire school!" Anger settled around Snape. "That was the moment the Dark Lord had me. Lucius saw me denounce my blood when Lily tried to help. He knew I was ripe for the plucking."

Harry felt heat rising to his face. "That doesn't explain..."

Snape's humiliation was plain on his face. "I couldn't kill your father! Potter was the only one who stood up for me!" Snape's face became red. "And because of that my mother _died_! I hate the Dark Lord for it. He twisted me, my life..." Snape spat in quiet hatred. "I will do everything in my power, for all my life to see him pay!"

Harry stared. "But you could have..."

Snape cut him off. "No! I could not! Don't you think I tried! No matter what I did, the monster never died! I lied, spied, did everything I could to bring about his downfall, to no avail! And do you know why?"

Harry shook his head.

"Because of you!" Harry started. "Because you have to be the who kills him! The one who uses Old Magic! You have to fulfill the prophecy. Only you, the son of James Potter! How bitter it is that you will have the revenge I desire!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Harry's Old Magic**

Harry stared at Snape. "Your revenge is so precious to you."

"Yes," Snape replied. "It is all I have left of the only one who loved me."

"Professor," Harry said slowly, "If I were to die, would Voldemort die too?"

Snape stiffened. His hands moved together. "No. He would live forever, protected by your mother's love. The Order discussed... we tried..." Snape crossed his arms tightly, hiding the Dark Mark. "Perhaps if it were removed. But we never discovered how to remove the soul fragment from your scar."

Harry rubbed his forehead. He felt a little pressure. "The Dark Lord can't kill me until he has it back either, can he?"

"I don't know," Snape said. He looked down at Harry; the boy seemed strange. "It may be that piece is the key to the Dark Lord's end."

Harry pulled out his wand. "But now we know the spell to remove the soul fragment."

Snape's eyes narrowed as they snapped over Harry's face. He took Harry by the shoulders and stared into his eyes. Suddenly Snape said, "Potter, don't do what you're thinking of doing!"

"And what am I thinking of doing?" Harry asked. He backed away from Snape. "You never knew that one word could separate you from the Dark Lord, did you?" Harry shook his head as if to clear it. "But I know. I know exactly how to be rid of it."

Harry raised his wand, pointing it at the lightning bolt scar. "One little piece of Dark Magic. Let me show you! _Nimorte_!" A snake began to writhe from Harry's scar.

Snape plowed into Harry, his fists balled in Harry's jacket. "Don't! Potter, don't! Dark Magic is not the answer! Dark Magic will not rid us of the Dark Lord!"

Harry pointed his wand at Snape. "Won't it?" Harry said. "Lily's protection is gone. If you tried, you could hurt me now." Harry's eyes were bright.

Snape seemed confused. He put a hand over Harry's on the wand hilt. "I won't hurt you," he said.

"No." Harry smiled. "But I will you!" Snape was blasted back. He fell through the wrecked wall and landed in the yard.

Harry felt the snake in his head. He didn't stop himself as he walked into the yard and picked Snape up by the arms. Harry held him still.

Snape stiffened with disgust. "Potter. Take your hands off me."

Harry didn't let go. _Just like Snape to try to order you about._ Harry shook his head. He felt a surge of white heat in his stomach. Revenge. Harry couldn't sort his feelings. He was beginning to boil with hate.

"Potter." A strange note colored Snape's voice. "I told you to let me go!"

Harry's eyes bored deep into Snape's. His mind squeezed Snape's, holding him tighter and tighter. "You've told me lots of things in the past," he said. "But I haven't listened. Tell me," Harry hissed. "Tell me, what do you see in the darkness? Professor Snape. Severus Snape. Tell me what you see!"

Snape tried to blink. Harry squeezed him harder. Quiet terror came to Snape's face; he began to tremble.

_I s--see your red eyes_. Snape didn't speak aloud, but Harry heard every word. Snape tried to find his voice. "Clo...close your mind. Potter, close your mind!"

Harry's stare buried itself deeper into Snape's mind. "Do you see your lord?"

Snape silently mouthed. _Y-y-yyes._

Harry smiled. "No one knows. No one here can tell. No one will help you. Are you afraid?"

_Yes_. Snape's voice quavered. "H-Harry, don't let him possess you. You have the power to drive out the Dark Lord! Use Old Magic! You can drive out the Dark Lord!"

"I choose not to," Harry said salaciously. "Tell me, my brother. How did you survive Lucius' Avada? I took your mother's soul from Bella!"

_It was not my mother's death that protected me_. Snape strained to keep the name to himself.

Harry squeezed Snape harder. "Then whose!"

Snape gasped. "My father!"

Harry laughed. "So much love you could not kill your mother, so much hate you would kill your sire?"

A tear dropped down Snape's face. "I didn't want to! My mother was dead. He had the right to know. He was insane with blame. He tried to kill me. What choice did I have?" Snape jerked in Harry's hands.

Harry nodded. "But we always have choices, don't we? Harry chose not to fight. He abandoned his body. Here, in this place, I choose you...to die!" Voldemort's mind slammed into Snape's, crushing him, grinding to powder the powers in the Professor's mind.

Harry's face twisted. He was filled with a rage like he had never known. He reached out himself and Snape crumpled in his hands. Harry chuckled. _Because I hate too!_ he thought.

A small cry passed Snape's lips. Harry was smiling, as though reveling in the loss of self he was causing in the hated man before him.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Dumbledore's notice seemed to come from far away. Harry squeezed again; his spell trickled into Snape's veins. He was suffusing the veins of his enemy with dirt. It felt right.

Dumbledore's voice sharpened. He was running toward them. "Harry! Get away from him! Harry!"

But Harry didn't want to let go. Yes, he did. Desperately! But to hold on would be such joy, yes! Harry barred his teeth as Snape convulsed. Snape's blood cloyed in his body, shredding his life. Harry enjoyed the terror, anger and jealousy, hurt, years and years of pain and sensitive life, twisted and stamped out of existence.

Harry turned to Dumbledore, and his lips curled. The spell was coursing through him; Harry didn't let go. He heard his voice hiss, "Albus! Will you kill the boy? I destroy what's mine, Dumbledore! The son of a Mudblood!"

Dumbledore's face went white. "Harry!" He extended his wand. Too late. "_EXPELLIARMUS_!"

Harry was hurled off his feet. He landed roughly, his mind stunned. The snake in his forehead continued to grow. It was drawing in more and more of Voldemort's powers. Wherever he was, Voldemort was feeding himself into the scar! Harry couldn't tell himself from his enemy. He needed room; he needed to be free.

Harry reached down into himself. He needed a barrier, one that would expel Voldemort. Harry gasped. He felt like he was being turned inside out. He could feel Voldemort grasping, sliding, trying again to gain a new hold. Harry reached, and brought up a golden mist. The cloud enveloped him, delved into him, and brought out the snake. The silver snake twisted and shrieked. It was trying to get away. Harry took it between his hands and wrung it in two. Harry was Voldemort, far away, shrieking and twisting. As the snake ripped in half, the contact was broken. Harry was himself again.

His ears cleared, and he began to hear voices questioning, shouting. Running. And crying?

Then, quite clearly, Harry heard Dumbledore's voice asking, "My god, Harry what did you do?" Harry turned.

The dementors fled. Death Eaters were disapperating all around. The Order was running toward him.

Cornelius Fudge was already there, breathing hard. "Harry! Harry! That magic was incredible! How did you do it?"

Harry shoved past him, staring at a black coated figure in the mud.

Snape stared at the sky with open lips. A drop of blood ran from his nose. But it was not red. It was streaked. Brown mud.

Dumbledore was already there, others were coming.

"FAWKES!" Dumbledore howled.

A phoenix screech echoed through the graveyard. The great whoosh of Fawkes' wings as he landed stirred the ground. The bird put his face close to Snape's, clacked his beak. He made a soft cry, repeating it over and over. Tears began to fall from Fawkes eyes. They landed on cold, immobile skin.

Professor Snape remained dead.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: A Way of Seeing**

Harry screamed; he couldn't stop. "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to! I couldn't let go! I wanted to, but I couldn't..." Suddenly Harry was weeping into Dumbledore's shoulder. "How? How? I couldn't...Professor! I felt like I had--like I had control! I had control over him. Over Snape. But... I wasn't in control. I hated Snape, but it wasn't my hate--I don't think I wanted to stop--I was going to take out every bad feeling I ever had on him--the Dursleys, my parents!" Harry shoved back his hair in anguish. "Professor! I've killed him!"

Dumbledore's sobbing voice rumbled in his ear, "Harry, you didn't kill Professor Snape! Voldemort possessed you. You aren't to blame!"

Harry felt he could no longer breathe. The faces of Dumbledore and the Aurors seemed to float around him.

"I have to see him!" Harry pushed Dumbledore away. He took a stumbling step toward Snape, but Dumbledore was at his elbow. "Harry, you have to go with Professor Lupin. He'll take you to headquarters. Time is shifting. We have to get out of here as fast as we can."

Harry turned. Lupin was there, looking stricken. "Harry, come with me," he said.

Harry shoved Lupin aside. "I want to say goodbye!" Harry cried. He ran toward Snape, but Fawkes snapped his bill. Harry staggered back.

Dumbledore looked around worriedly. "Yes, you must go. Without Voldemort to support it, the Time-Turner is unbalanced. Harry, you'll get your chance. I promise!"

Lupin grabbed Harry and hurried him down the hill toward the graveyard. Harry balked, but Lupin held him tighter, forcing his steps as Harry turned back, until finally they stood at Tom Riddle's grave.

Harry stared down at it. Professor Lupin pulled out Harry's wand and put it in his hand. "Do it Harry," Lupin said. "I will meet you there."

"But what are they doing?" Harry looked toward the mansion. Fudge stood with his bowler hat in his hand. The Aurors were vanishing. Suddenly the yard was empty. "Where are they?" Harry demanded.

"The Ministry of Magic, probably. We have to get out of here!"

Harry stared at Lupin. "Why couldn't I go with them?" Harry demanded angrily.

Lupin pulled his cardigan tighter. "Do you really want to be there for that, Harry?"

Harry stared at Lupin. Suddenly Harry jammed his wand against the stone. He vanished from the graveyard.

* * *

Harry staggered against the front door of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. He put his hands over his face; he was about to cry again. Lupin apparated next to Harry and caught his arm before he could sit. "Harry, go in!" Lupin shoved the door open and propelled Harry inside. Harry felt overwhelmed. He turned and kicked over the elephant leg umbrella stand.

A black curtain whipped back and Sirius' mother began to screech. Harry ran to her and screamed back in her face. He kept doing it until Lupin said, "Harry! That's enough!" Harry ran up the stairs. He threw himself onto a bed and screamed into the pillow.

After a while Lupin came in. His face was red from crying. "Harry," he said softly. "I've talked to Dumbledore. If you want, I can take you back now."

Harry sniffed. "Back where?"

"To Hogwarts. Or if you want time alone, I have this." Lupin held up a long necklace, on which a tiny hourglass was suspended.

Harry took the hourglass and shook it. The sand wasn't moving. "What is this?" Harry asked.

"Frozen time," Lupin replied. "Dumbledore thought you might want some time alone, so he fixed the sands. If you put it one, time will stop for you. You'll have about six hours. In the morning your friends will catch up with you." Tears ran from Lupin's eyes. He blinked.

Harry stared at the bright blue sky outside. "In the morning?"

Lupin nodded. "It's not quite nine now. If you stay, we'll bring Ron and Hermione in the morning. They're still asleep. It's only three for them. Hogwarts won't have classes today. There's still a lot to do." Lupin dragged his hand through his hair. He looked at Harry kindly. "I can stay with you, if you like."

Harry shook his head. "No. Go back." He didn't understand, but he was too worn to argue. Harry slipped the necklace over his head. Lupin froze, then winked out of sight. Harry blinked. "Professor?" Harry stood up. It was perfectly quiet, perfectly still. Outside the window, clouds didn't sail across the sky. The trees didn't move in any wind.

Harry slowly went down the stairs. Sirius' mother was frozen in mid-scream. There was nothing alive anywhere, no Kreacher, no Order of the Phoenix.

Harry went back to his bed. The light never changed. Harry closed his eyes. He could still see Fudge standing over Snape at the mansion's yard.

* * *

The red sun peeked over the horizon and Ron pulled himself out of bed. He crossed to Harry's bed, but it was empty.

McGonagall's voice, rather stilted, sounded in the room, magically amplified to make an announcement: "Students. Your classes are cancelled today. A general assembly will be held at 10 o'clock. All students are to attend. Thank you."

Neville jumped up. "Did you hear that, Ron? We're out of potions today!"

Ron smiled tightly. "Sure are." Ron grabbed his robe. "Think I'll go see Hermione."

Ron walked into the common room. Hermione was already there, dressed and reading. Ron sat next to her.

"Harry didn't come in last night," Ron whispered.

Hermione nodded. "I know. I was awake all night waiting." Hermione tried to hide behind the book, but not before Ron saw a large tear on her face.

"What's wrong!" Ron demanded. He grabbed her hand and pulled her book away.

"It just doesn't feel right," Hermione replied. She shook him off with a wave and wiped her eye. "Dumbledore was going to bring Harry himself. But he didn't. That means something's gone wrong."

Students were starting to come down the stairs. Ron ducked lower into the seat. "They could have just stayed with Hagrid."

"No, Ron. Harry would have come back." Hermione pushed at Ron. "Get dressed, Ron. We're going to Hagrid's. "

Ron nodded and started to rise.

Suddenly Dobby appeared.

Ron jumped back. "Er! Dobby! What are you doing here?"

Dobby sighed and looked at the floor. His large ears drooped as he shook his head. "Hello, Harry Potter's friends!" He kept his voice down, so noone else would hear. "Dobby is afraid that there is bad, bad news!"

Ron and Hermione threw a glance at each other. "What is it Dobby?" Hermione asked.

Dobby's ears drooped even further and he held out a folded parchment to Ron. "It's in this letter." Dobby put a sympathetic hand on Ron's knee. He sighed again and snapped his fingers. Dobby disappeared.

Ron unfolded the letter. He scanned through it, his lips moving slightly. He suddenly looked sick. Hermione leaned toward him. "What does it say, Ron?"

Ron sat staring at the letter.

"Ron?" He wordlessly handed it to her. The letter was a scribble, written by Mrs. Weasley:

~Ron, something terrible has happened! Please, tell your brothers and sister--and Hermione too-- that Professor Snape is dead. Harry was with him. But don't worry, Harry is okay. Your father will explain when he brings you to headquarters! Harry is shaken, but you can't come see him now. I don't know if you should mention it to anyone else or not--Albus will make the announcement soon. I love you! Mom

Cheering rumbled from the dorms above as students celebrated the class cancellations, but Ron and Hermione couldn't share the excitement. Ginny came down the stairs smiling. She flopped down at a table and put her feet up. "Didn't you two hear?" she teased. "Classes are cancelled! I wonder what the assembly's about?" Ron handed her the letter. Ginny gasped. She turned to Hermione. "But you said that Snape was okay!"

Another tear ran down Hermione's face. "What went wrong?"

* * *

Harry was startled into wakefulness when something suddenly rocketed off his mattress. Hermione jumped from the edge of his bed, staring, her eyes wide. "Harry!" she squeaked. "Where did you come from!"

"I've been right here!" he answered. "You startled me!"

"Startled _you_!" Ron gasped. "Dumbledore told us to come up here and wait for you. You were not in that bed when we got here!"

Harry felt something pull against his neck. The Time-Turner's chain was wrapped around him awkwardly. Harry pulled the Time-Turner over his head and peered into it. The sands were all in the bottom glass. "I guess you caught up to me," Harry said.

Hermione crawled on her knees back onto the bed and reached for the hourglass. "Oh, that's what he meant," she said.

Harry looked at her questioningly, "Who?"

"Dumbledore," Hermione half smiled. "When he sent us up here, he said you'd show up in a minute."

"Yeah, I guess," Harry said. He looked out the window. The clouds were moving, the trees swayed in the breeze. "You know Snape is dead?" Harry asked.

Ron and Hermione nodded.

"You know what happened?"

"Yes," Hermione's eyes filled. "Voldemort killed him."

Harry was stunned. "Voldemort? Who told you that?"

"Dumbledore," Ron said. "He told us, Voldemort killed Snape last night."

Hot tears started in Harry's eyes. He furiously wiped his hands under his glasses. "Why would he say that? Why would he lie? I did it! I was the one who killed Snape!"

Hermione grabbed his shoulders. "What? No, Harry, you didn't!" she asserted.

Harry was suddenly angry. "I did, Hermione. If, if Dumbledore says I didn't kill Snape... He, he's lying to you! He isn't explaining it right!"

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "Dumbledore saw what happened! There were Aurors there too! And members of the Order."

"They're lying then, too!" Harry interrupted. "To protect me, I suppose. Because of the prophecy, or something..."

"Harry!" Hermione glared. "They have no reason to lie!"

Harry jumped off the bed and raced down the stairs. Harry hauled himself around the newel post and skidded to a halt. Tonks and Lupin looked up at him; their faces were distraught. The Weasleys were there as well. Ginny was wedged between Fred and George. She wiped her face as Harry came in.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Harry demanded.

Lupin stood up. "Harry! He's at Hogwarts right now. He's talking to the staff."

"The staff?" Harry parroted. "My god! Is he telling_ them _the truth? Is he telling them I killed Snape?"

Lupin looked alarmed. "Harry what are you saying? You didn't kill him!"

Tonks looked up at Lupin. "We know it. We all know it." She turned to Harry. "We were there!"

Hermione came up behind Harry and gave him a half hug. Harry shoved Hermione away from him. "Exactly!" he shouted. "You were there. That's why it doesn't make sense. Why are you saying I didn't kill Professor Snape?"

Lupin was closest. "Because we know you won't do it! It was a terrible way for Severus to die. It is _exactly _the kind of thing Voldemort would do. But it is not the kind of thing to expect from you!"

Harry felt a tightness in his chest. "But I did it. He was my hands. And my thoughts... I hated him..."

Mrs. Weasley jumped up. She sounded quite angry. "Harry Potter! I may not have been there, but I know you! Anything you did to Severus, you didn't do it as you! You were possessed! There's no arguing it!" She came up to him and shook his face with her hands. "And we're all so grateful you're not dead! Be grateful too!"

"But Snape is dead!" Harry shrieked. "Even if I didn't do it myself, it was least my fault! I let Voldemort use me! I didn't even try to close my mind! Snape was begging me to do it! I used Dark Magic, but Snape tried to stop me!" Mrs. Weasley crushed him in a hug, but Harry balled his fists. "Was Voldemort inside my head? Was he? Because if he wasn't, I killed Snape!"

Dumbledore suddenly stepped across the fireplace grate. "Harry!" he called. "Stop this! You know Voldemort was in your head. You have the proof!"

"What proof?" Harry asked. He shoved Mrs. Weasley aside.

"Your soul shield. A dead snake. You drove out the Death Eaters, the dementors, Voldemort!And now it's time!"

"For what?" Harry gasped.

"Time to say goodbye. Like I promised." Dumbledore took Harry's arm and led him to the fireplace.

Dumbledore stepped in and disappeared. Harry stared a moment longer, then stepped in himself. Harry felt the air whipping at him as he revolved crazily. He came out in the fireplace in Hogwarts' Great Hall. The hall was hung with green and silver and black, and it was packed with students. Harry gasped and turned back to the hearth, but the Order were appearing. They pushed him forward. Hermione and Ron, Ginny, George and Fred hurried to Gryffindor tables, but Moody held Harry back.

Dumbledore went directly to the podium. Students were starting to turn and point. The faces of the members of the Order of the Phoenix showed their grief, and students were noticing. The air was silent even before Dumbledore faced them.

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "My dear students at Hogwarts," he said formally. "Your classes were cancelled today to honor someone who has died."

Students turned to each other, checking to see who was missing. To the students around them, Fred and George nodded toward Snape's empty seat.

"This morning," Dumbledore said, "Professor Severus Snape was killed by Voldemort."

This time there was an uproar. Dumbledore waited patiently for the questions to fade. "The Ministry has formally acknowledged the Dark Lord's return, and this has to do with Professor Snape," Dumbledore said. "But first, I believe Harry Potter has something to say."

Harry felt a pain in his stomach. He hadn't expected this! But Dumbledore stepped down and Harry found himself dragging his feet the ever-lengthening distance. Just as Harry was hoping he'd never reach the podium, he was there. Harry took the last step. He turned to the crowd.

The students were silent, waiting. The members of the Order of the Phoenix stood respectfully. Behind him, Harry snuck a peek at the staff. In an alcove Filch sniffed and wiped his eyes.

Harry felt his jaw shake. His mind went blank. Then out in the crowd Hermione nodded to him.

Harry gulped. "I guess I came today, because I wanted to say goodbye to Professor Snape," Harry began. A few students blinked at him. Harry felt suddenly older. "I know. Who would have thought that I would ever grieve for him?" Harry paused. "But for all of you who didn't like him, for those of you he bullied," Harry felt himself in that category, and he was not afraid to say it, "For those of you who feared him..." Harry paused again. Out in the crowd Neville cringed. "I want you to know that Voldemort will meet his end because of what Professor Snape did for us this morning! Professor Snape died... because Voldemort is selfish and arrogant. He doesn't care one bit who he hurts if it furthers his ends." Harry took a deep breath. "But I care," he murmured. "And Dumbledore cares. Your teachers care. And Professor Snape cared!" Harry felt blood thundering in his head. "And it will be up to all of us to do our part to make sure the hatred and the bigotry that Voldemort believes in comes to an end!"

Suddenly the hall buzzed with emotion. It seemed crystal clear to Harry who would support the Order and who would stand with Voldemort. Dumbledore was standing right behind Harry. "Remember this," he said. "And meet me in my office."

Harry climbed from the podium, and went into the hall. His head was still buzzing. He swallowed. People, who he had thought for years were friends, would stand by Voldemort. Even more surprising were those who should have been enemies. How could Harry ever have known who was who? How could he single out people, and tell them they were no longer his friends? Couldn't he give them the chance to change? Wouldn't they see that Voldemort's path was not the one that would lead to hope? By the time Harry reached Dumbledore's office he was sobbing uncontrollably.

* * *

Harry leaned against the stone rail, turning his wand in his hand. Far below, students were filing out of the castle. Hermione came up beside him. She was still wearing black. "They granted him the Order of Merlin. First class," she said.

"I know," Harry remarked. He kept fiddling with the wand.

Hermione turned and leaned her elbows on the cold stone. "I don't know how I feel, now that he's gone. It's been strange having McGonagall for potions. It's like he just left early for vacation. Like he'll be back."

Harry didn't say anything.

"I wonder who will teach after the break?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know," he said flatly. Harry didn't look up from his wand.

Hermione turned, and watched his hands caressing the holly wand. "How did you get it back?" she finally asked.

"Dumbledore said it abandoned Voldemort." Harry stopped turning the wand and stared at Hermione. "How is that possible?"

Hermione shook her head. "The wand chooses the wizard, doesn't it? Maybe it sensed it wasn't with its proper owner."

Harry shook his head. "No. I think...I think it knows I'm ready now. I have the twin to Voldemort's wand. I have a soul barrier. It's even of my own making...I know who to trust...In some profound way, I know love." Harry stopped and touched his scar. "Hermione, I've got magic so strong I was able to drive the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time out of my head!"

Hermione's eyes were wide. "I know, Harry. You are powerful," she squeaked. "It's scary. I worry too. What's to stop you from becoming like Voldemort?"

Harry stiffened. Suddenly Ron's voice came from the stair. "I guess that's it. Professor Snape won't be around anymore."

Harry turned to Hermione. His eyes had misted over. "I know. In the end, I loved Snape, and that's what it will take. When Voldemort comes, I know how to kill him."

* * *

**The End**

* * *

The following sections contain SPOILERS for the HARRY POTTER SERIES

The following sections contain SPOILERS for "15 Hours"

* * *

**Major Spells used in "15 Hours"**

* * *

Nimorte: Voldemort uses this to call back soul fragments that he has placed in Bella and Snape's Dark Marks. Harry realizes he can use this to get Voldemort out of his scar

The Dark Mark: a Protean Spell that allows Voldemort to call to his servants and allows them to know where he is. When removed a hex is activated causes the servant to die. The hex can be circumvented by the servant using a Dark Magic spell which will cause him to align with Voldemort once again.

The Dark Magic Barrier: When Avada Kedavra kills a person their soul fragments. The fragments can be captured and used to rebound any further Avada Kedavra spells. The source of this spell is the person who wants to collect the soul fragments--usually the one using the Avada. It is used to protect the self.

The Old Magic Barrier: Similar to the Dark Magic Barrier, the Old Magic Barrier is cast by the person who is killed by Avada. It is used to protect another.

The Spell Path: Voldemort devised this potion to remove Lily's protection from Harry

Occulmency: Used by Snape to cloud the telepathic connection he has with Voldemort via the soul fragment in his Dark Mark.

Draught of Living Death: A sleeping potion so powerful it mimics death

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**Timeline & Exposition**

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Starred (*) items come from

Plus (+) items can be cannon, guesses at canon (including my own or other fans'), or complete fabrication used solely in "15 Hours"

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(*) Snape is born on January 9, 1960

(+) Snape's mother is a Muggle-born witch. His father is a full-blood wizard. Snape is abused by his father and picks up the curses and hexes in an effort to protect himself.

(*) Snape starts Hogwarts Sept 1, 1971 at age 11.

(+) Lucius Malfoy observes Snape with an eye to inducting Snape into the Death Eaters. Malfoy also learns about Snape's parentage

(+) At the end of 1975 Snape's mother disappears. Snape looses his one source of comfort.

(*) Sirius tells Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow in 1976

(+) Snape's father berates him, telling Snape he got what he deserved. Further, his father tells him that it was Snape's fault his mother disappeared, because Snape had told someone she was muggle-born. James stands up to Snape's father, winning Snape's loyalty.

(*) Snape's "worst memory" takes place in June 1976 when he is 15, in 5th year (+) shortly after the Whomping Willow incident.

(+) Before the OWL test Snape goes to James to thank him for standing up for him. Instead, James succumbs to peer pressure and insults Snape.

(+) Snape transfers his resentment of James, his father's treatment of him, his mother's disappearance onto Lily calling her a mudblood when she tries to help him.

(+) Malfoy witnesses Sirius' bullying and Snape's reactions and decides it is time to approach Snape with an offer of protection and overtures of friendship.

(+) Snape denounces his mother as a mudblood and is inducted into Voldemort's service. He proves himself exceptional at spying, potions and wizard/Muggle-torture. Voldemort grants Snape the Dark Mark.

(*) Snape graduates in 1978 and spends at least 2 years as a death eater, (+) becoming one of Voldemort's favorites.

(+) Snape discovers that Avada Kedavra (AK) kills by scattering the soul. Snape believes that he can use Dark Magic to capture a piece of the soul from the murdered person and use it form an immunity against the AK. Snape explains to Voldemort. Voldemort does not want to be killed accidentally and commands Snape to do it. Because he does not want Snape to have the barrier, however, Voldemort puts a piece of his soul into Snape's Dark Mark and commands Snape to direct the barrier into the Dark Mark. Voldemort plans to take back both the soul and the barrier using "Nimorte." (This is a spell Snape does not know, so he is unable to remove the soul fragment himself, or later, from Harry.) Voldemort commands Snape to kill James as the test subject, thinking Snape will be happy to kill his old enemy. However, Snape balks when he finds James, because of James' standing up for him during the Whomping Willow incident. Snape runs away and hides in Hogsmeade. He sees Dumbledore at the Goats Head Inn, and follows to spy on Dumbledore. That night he hears the prophesy of Harry's birth.

(*) Snape hears the prophesy in 1980.

(+) Snape returns to Voldemort, hoping that by telling Voldemort the prophesy Voldemort will forgive Snape for not killing James. Instead Voldemort decides to punish Snape and test his commitment to the Death Eaters by having Snape kill a Muggle-born and take the witch's soul barrier. Bella comes to torture the chosen witch, who is Snape's mother. Snape realizes he still loves his mother and kills her to spare her Bella's tortures. Bella is able to do the Dark Magic Barrier spell and gets the soul barrier. Snape duels his way to safety.

(+) Voldemort uses Nimorte to get back his soul from Bella. His immunity to AK is incomplete, because part of the barrier stays with Bella. Voldemort does not know that the immunity is incomplete, however.

(+) Snape retains part of Voldemort's soul in his Dark Mark. Snape goes to his father, who blames Snape for his wife's death. They fight. When Snape's father tries to kill Snape, Snape fights back and kills him. Snape uses the Dark Magic Barrier and becomes immune to AK.

(+) Snape realizes a telepathic contact through Voldemort's soul fragment. Snape has the vision that Voldemort orders the Death Eaters to kill him, and Snape flees to Hogwarts. Snape allies himself to Dumbledore and swears revenge on Voldemort. Dumbledore teaches Occlumency to Snape, so Snape can keep Voldemort from having telepathic contact through the soul fragment. Snape becomes a strong enough Occlumens that he can read Voldemort without being detected.

(*) Harry is born July 31, 1980.

(*) Voldemort arrives at the Potters house on Oct 31, 1981.

(+) Snape secretly follows to make sure Voldemort dies.

(+) Voldemort kills James, then turns to Lily. When Lily is hit by the AK, her soul scatters, but she uses Old Magic to cause her soul to make a barrier around Harry. Voldemort's AK cuts Harry's forehead, but the full force is rebounded by Lily's barrier. Voldemort's partial immunity to AK allows his scattered soul to reform. Snape is enraged that Voldemort was not completely destroyed. He reacts by shooting the AK at Voldemort. It ricochets in a wild explosion, which ruins the house and dislodges a piece of the ghostly Voldemort. This fragement settles in Harry's cut forehead.

(+) After Voldemort is reborn, Dumbledore asks Snape to assist the Order of the Phoenix by tapping into Voldemort's soul fragment to determine what Voldemort is up to. Snape's Dark Mark also becomes active, so that Snape knows when and where the Death Eaters are called.

(+) The events leading up to "Order of the Phoenix" occur, as per JK Rowling's series.

(+) In Harry's fifth year, Voldemort learns of his telepathic link with Harry, not realizing it is due to a piece of his soul being in Harry, and lures Harry to get the prophesy out of the Department of Mysteries. The prophesy is destroyed and Voldemort begins work on a spell to remove Harry's mother's soul barrier from Harry.

(+) The events of "15 Hours" take place in Harry's 6th year, beginning of November.


End file.
